Charmed Heritage: 109 The Demon of Confusion
by StoryGirl83
Summary: A demon causes confusion by switching around Piper, Leo, Wyatt, and Chris' bodies. To make things even more confusing, the demon swtiches around their powers, too, leaving Leo with a power, Wyatt with none, and Piper and Chris with powers not their own.
1. The Demon Attacks

The Demon of Confusion

Monday February 22, 2027

Prologue - The Demon Attacks

* * *

Wyatt's bedroom was a mess, but then Wyatt's bedroom was always a mess. Clothes were strewn around the room. Even the covers on the bed were crumpled, but they did a fairly good job of covering the topless body of Wyatt Halliwell, so Wyatt didn't care. And if Wyatt didn't care, who was to object?

* * *

Chris' room was the exact opposite of his big brother. It was neat, everything its place. Even the sheets covering the sleeping body of Chris Halliwell were neat, which was no small feat considering he was under them.

* * *

In the Halliwell Manor only one bedroom was occupied these days. It was shared by Wyatt and Chris' parents, Piper Halliwell and Leo Wyatt. Like Chris' room, it was neat and orderly. In a large bed with the headboard against one of the walls Piper and Leo lay sound asleep. In his sleep, Leo was spooned up against his wife and had his arms around her.

* * *

Back in Wyatt's room the air distorted and formed into a creature with pale green skin. His hair was short, slick, and white. His eyes were an amber color, big and bright. He walked over to the bed where Wyatt lay asleep. As he stopped a few inches from the bed he held up his right hand and held is still as it slowly began to glow red. Once it was bright and pulsing he brought his hand down and held it against Wyatt's forehead. Several seconds passed and the demon raised his hand. His hand still bright and pulsing, the demon shimmered out.

He shimmered to the other side of the apartment when Chris' room was. He walked up to the bed, brought down his hand, and held it against Chris' forehead. Chris stirred in his sleep causing a frown to grow on the demon's face. When nothing more happened, the demon relaxed and removed his hand. He looked at it and sighed, satisfied. His task there complete, he shimmered out without any more movement from Chris.

This time the demon shimmered across town to the Halliwell Manor. He appeared on Leo's side of the bed. He walked over to the bed and placed his glowing hand against Leo's forehead, holding it there for several seconds before removing it.

Instead of shimmering out, the demon walked around the bed to Piper's side. He stopped there and placed his hand on Piper's forehead for several seconds. Once he lifted his hand he turned it over to look at the palm.

On the palm of the demon's glowing red hand were four pale blue circles and four pale yellow circles pulsing even faster than the glow of his hand. He shook his hand causing the circles to merge into one large, pale green circle. He closed his hand and shook it again. When he opened his hand the circles had separated and there were four pale green circles in the place of the large one.

The demon lifted his hand close to his lips and blew on it. Four pale green balls of light whisked away from his hand, two of them landing on Piper's and Leo's foreheads, two of them flying out the window, even as the demon shimmered out of the room. In his sleep Leo rolled away from Piper and onto his side.

* * *

So what did the demon do? What were those pale balls of light and what did they do to Piper, Leo, Wyatt, and Chris? To find out, review and I'll post chapter one.


	2. Me, But Not Me

First a thank you to my reviewers:

Cirolane - Yes, Wyatt without his powers. That is why I chose to have him be the one without powers, because it was just so not normal. I think it's funny, too. And it gave me a near headache trying to figure it out to. I am going to make this as easy as possible, try not to confuse everyone too much.

du1387 - I hope so. I'm glad you like how it is beginning.

piperspeanut - Well, you'll have to tell me if your guess was right when you find out one way or the other.

gabrieldarke - Yes, that is where the theme music would play, and eventually I will have a link for you guys to listen to and watch the theme music. Eventually, I just need to get the equipment and the time, figure out what clips to use. Man, reading fanfics would be a sweet job.

perrycharmed - Glad you like how it starts. Hope it lives up to expectations.

To help avoid confusion as best as possible any character not in their own bodies will be in italics once it is revealed who they are. It will still be a bit confusing when a character who doesn't know who they really are interacts with them and calls them by a different name, but this seemed like the best way to do it. Also as they are reveal there will be a list telling which soul (in this case the actual person) is in which body and with whose power. Until they are all revealed the list will be at the beginning and end of each chapter. The one at the beginning will say what you know up to that point. The one at the end will say what was revealed in the chapter (if you want to cheat.) After you know all the who's in what (body) with which (power) I will just have the list above the chapter. I want you to enjoy this story, so hopefully this will help.

* * *

Chapter One - Me, But Not Me

The sun was beginning to shine through the window of Wyatt's bedroom. The alarm in the night stand was ringing. Wyatt groaned in his sleep. He slapped at the wall instead of at the night stand. His eyes popped open the second his hand connected with the wall. "What on earth?" Wyatt's eyes widened even farther. "Whoa! That's . . ." his voice trailed off, but the sentence continued in his thoughts, _not my voice._ Only the thoughts didn't belong to Wyatt, because even though the body was Wyatt's, everything else about him was _Chris_.

_Chris_ in Wyatt's body sat up and looked around. The sheets fell revealing his bare chest. _And this is not my room._ He slapped the alarm clock in the night stand. _Why am I in Wyatt's room?_ He pushed the covers off the rest of the way and climbed out of bed. Clad only in pajama bottoms he walked over to the bedroom door and pulled it open. He exited his room, turned left and then left again into the apartment bathroom.

Chris entered the tiny apartment bathroom. On the left of the room was a bathtub with an attached shower. On the right there was a toilet by the apartment wall and a sink with a mirror over it nearer the door. _Chris_ looked in the mirror and started breathing hard. _This is bad._ In the mirror he saw only his older brother's face, with no sign of his own. _Chris_ turned around and left the room.

_Chris_ exited the bathroom and turned left, again. He stopped in front of the door to his bedroom and turned the knob. He gulped and pushed open the door. Inside he saw himself, fast asleep on the bed. The sheets were no longer neat, something that bothered him a little. He entered the room and walked over to his bed. He stopped next to it and looked down, trying to see something that would indicate this wasn't really him. _Apparently I am still in bed, but how is this possible?_ He reached down and shook the other Chris, the Chris that looked like Chris. "Wake up."

Chris' eyes opened, sleepily and he looked up at _Chris_. "Wyatt? What are you doing here?"

_Great,_ _Chris_ thought to himself. _It's not Wyatt. Who's in my body?_

Chris frowned as he looked around. "What am I doing in your brother's room?" He frowned, his voice bothering him.

_Chris_ gave him a wry look. "My room actually. I'm Chris. Whom am I talking to?"

It was an odd question to ask, but _Leo_ had already figured out something was wrong. _Chris?_ His mind questioned the words at the same time he accepted that if what his senses where telling him was right, then most likely this was Chris. "What's going on and why do I have your voice?"

_Chris_ sighed. "My voice, my body, my bed. I repeat, whom am I talking to?"

"Your dad," _Leo_ informed him.

_Chris_ shook his head, trying to clear it. _Wy must be somewhere else._ Turning his attention to his dad he said, "We need to get over to the manor." He closed his eyes and tried to orb out of there, but he just stood there. He frowned and opened his eyes. "I can't orb."

"That's okay," _Leo_ told him softly. It wasn't exactly, none of this was, but all things considered, a lack of orbing wasn't that big of a deal. Besides, while, he son couldn't orb, _Leo_ was almost certain he could, a feeling he had felt in over two decades. "I think I can. Go get dressed."

"Dressed," _Chris_ looked down at his body, remembering that he hadn't dressed yet. "Sorry." He groaned as he remembered why the alarm had woke him. "Work."

"What?" _Leo_ asked, not sure how work had come up in the conversation.

"Wyatt's alarm woke me," _Chris_ informed him. "He has work today. Am I supposed to go in for him?"

"If you think you can do the job," _Leo_ hesitated trying to make a decision, finally deciding that this probably could wait for a little while, "it's probably best. Do you have work?"

_Chris_ nodded. "At eight. Ever worked at a department store?"

_Leo_ shook his head. "I grew up during the Depression. I was lucky to get a newspaper route. After high school I went to medical school and then to war. I certainly never worked in a department store as a whitelighter. However, I think I'll manage for one day." It might even end up being fun.

"Keep in mind," _Chris_ reminded him, "I'm the assistant manager and the manager's not in today." Remembering events from the past few weeks he added, "Oh, and be careful around David. He's kind of a friend, but he thinks I've gone insane lately."

"Don't worry," _Leo_ assured him. "Just get dressed and figured out how you are going to do Wyatt's job at the museum." _Leo_ looked around his son's room. The clock in the wall told him that there wasn't a whole lot of time before he had to get to Centennial, if he was going to go. "I'll go see if I can find your brother and check on your mother."

_Chris_ nodded. He turned around and headed for the door, mumbling as he went, "I knew I hated demons in my room and there is no way this isn't a demon."

SOUL - BODY - POWER

Chris - Wyatt - Unknown  
Leo - Chris - Unknown

That's all the info you know so far. Since I am still in the process of writing this, it's not going to be quite as fast as the later parts of the last episode. I needed them to go to their jobs, so if this doesn't sound right, please tell me what might sound better. Thanks.


	3. To Get Out of Bed Or Not

First a thank you to my reviewers:

Cirolane – You're guesses are golden. Good job.

du1387 – Yeps. You got it.

lexi-charmed – Yeah, they have things they need to get used to before they try to do anything else. Glad you like how this story begins. No, Wyatt is not in Leo's body. None of them are in their proper bodies. You'll see though.

perrycharmed – Oh, yeah. An episode like this requires humor. It just has it in there. I suspect I will have a lot of fun with this episode.

piperspeanut – No, actually it's Wyatt who will end up without powers . . . not his body. You'll see. Hope you enjoy this story as much as you think you will.

Sorry this is taking so long. I did get several parts in the middle done. I kind of know how things are going to go in some places more than others. For example . . . I haven't touched Centennial yet. Writing a different story, I found out something interesting about one of the employees of Centennial, but that's for a different story entirely.

Now for a review of what you know to this point:

Chris is in Wyatt's body.  
Leo is in Chris' body.

That about covers it, so enjoy.

* * *

Chapter Two – To Get Out of Bed . . . Or Not

In the Halliwell manor, the covers of Piper and Leo's bed where twisted around Piper. Leo shivered. With his eyes closed he began to complain, "Leo, you're hogging the . . ." and that was as far he got before _Piper_ finished the sentence in her mind, _blanket_. _Piper's_ eyes flew open and she looked around. _I'm on the wrong side of the bed._ She rubbed her eyes and froze as another problem became apparent. _Those are not my hands._ She pushed herself up into a sitting position and turned to look at the other side of the bed. She groaned as she saw herself sound asleep with the covers wrapped firmly around her body. _What is going on?_

By the window blue-white orbs turned into _Leo_ in Chris body. He grinned, enjoying the feeling of being able to orb, and looked around. In the time since his conversation with _Chris_ he has changed and was ready for the day. He spotted _Piper_ in his body and frowned, suddenly understanding how _Chris_ must have felt when he first spotted _Leo_ in his body. "Piper or Wyatt?"

_What?_ was the first thought that came to mind as she turned to look where _Leo_ was standing. "Did you just call me Piper? I'm your mother . . ."

Not wanting to hear that particular sentence, ever, _Leo_ interrupted her, "Let's not go there. I'm not Chris. I left Chris in the apartment, getting dressed and picking up Wyatt's room." That had been rather amusing. Chris had said that since he didn't know how long this would last, he wasn't going to deal with Wyatt's messing room if he could help it.

Piper stirred in her sleep causing the real _Piper_ to frown and look at her. "Then, that's . . ."

"Probably Wyatt," _Leo_ confirmed.

"Oh good grief," _Piper_ complained. "I'm not liking the idea of switching bodies with my son." She looked at _Leo_. "And husband. No make that sons and husband, right?"

_Leo_ nodded. "So far as we know, but you're going to have to wake yourself up before we know for sure."

_Piper_ frowned.

"And another thing," _Leo_ continued on, "something is up with the boys' powers."

_Piper's_ frown deepened. "You orbed here. Chris can. . ." She stopped and stared at her husband. "You orbed here!"

_Leo_ nodded. "And Chris couldn't. Watch." He gave her a half smile as a blue shield came up around him. It disappeared after a few seconds. "Chris shouldn't be able to do that. It's Wyatt's power."

_Piper_ considered this. "So you aren't just in Chris' body. You have Wyatt's powers." When _Leo_ nodded, _Piper_ continued her line of thought, "So it stands to reason that I don't have my correct powers and I don't have yours."

_Leo_ smiled at that. "I don't normally have powers."

"Okay," _Piper_ corrected herself, "so I don't have your lack of ability." She got out of bed and looked around. "Paige makes this look easy. Let's see if I can do this." She holds out her hand and calls out, "Pillow!"

A pillow disappeared from the bed in blue-white orbs and reappears in _Piper's_ hand. She gave it a disbelieving look and then looked at _Leo_. "I just orbed that."

"That means the boys have our powers," _Leo_ commented.

"That means one of them has no powers," _Piper_ reminded him, a tinge of worry in her voice. She frowned at Piper asleep on the bed.

Piper moaned and turned over in her sleep. Her eyes blinked open and a frown grew on her face. Unlike everyone else, _Wyatt_ didn't start with talking. He already knew something was wrong. _What on earth? Where am I?_ He pushed himself up against the headboard and looked around. Spotting _Piper_ and _Leo_ he frowned. _That is odd._

_Piper_ and _Leo_ looked at each other. In a whisper, _Piper_ urged _Leo_, "Ask."

_Leo_ shook his head and whispered back, "I'll pass."

"I'm serious, Leo," _Piper_ pushed. "I am not asking someone in my body if they are my son."

"What's going . . ."_ Wyatt_ started finishing silently, _on._ While he had figured something was wrong, he hadn't quite realize how much. His thoughts were somewhat panicky as he thought, _Not my voice._ "What did . . ?" He covered his mouth with his hand. _Still not my voice._ He frowned. "Why do I sound like Mom?"

_Piper _walked over to the dresser and started looking through one of the drawers. She pulled out a hand mirror and walked over to the bed. She held it out for _Wyatt_ to see. "Sounds like. Looks like. The question is, how on earth did you end up in my body, Wyatt?"

_Wyatt_ gaped at the mirror and then looked at _Piper_ with wide eyes. Disbelief was in his voice as he asked, "Mom?" When _Piper_ nodded he turned his eyes to _Leo_. "Chris?" When _Leo_ shook his head, _Wyatt_ moaned.

"Right now, Chris looks like you, Wyatt," _Leo_ informed him, using his son's name to remind himself that this wasn't his wife he was talking to. "Is there anything he needs to know about your job?"

_Wyatt_ looked at his father suspiciously. "What? Why would Chris need to know anything about my job?"

"Because we agreed to deal with this after work in order to avoid unneeded questions," _Leo_ answered him.

_Wyatt _glared at him. "You mean unneeded questions like, 'Piper, why did you burn the food? It's so unlike you.' This is impossible!"

"Wyatt, calm down," _Piper_ warned. "Seeing as I own the restaurant, I don't normally have to go in."

_Wyatt_ sighed, but before he could truly relax, _Piper_ continued.

"Today, however, I do have to be there for a while," Piper told him. She forged on even as _Wyatt_ groaned. "There is no cooking involved. In fact, I implore you not to try, not at the restaurant." The unsaid, "in my body" rang loud and clear in Wyatt's ears.

"Then, why do I need to go there?" _Wyatt_ wanted to know.

"I have an interview set up with a potential employee," _Piper _informed him. "I need you to conduct it."

_Wyatt _looked at her, distressed. "Can't Drinka conduct it or something?"

_Piper_ laughed a little at that. "Much as you may think Drinka has all this authority, she is technically the restaurant hostess." Which was how both _Piper_ and Drinka liked it. The public seemed to love Drinka, so she made an excellent hostess. She was efficient, but the only other place _Piper_ could have put her was as her secretary or something, and not only would Drinka have hated that, but it would have robbed _Piper_ of a valuable employee. "It will have to be you."

"Fine," _Wyatt_ sighed. "I guess I can handle that. It's not like I haven't interviewed anyone before. I just haven't done it looking like my mom." And there in lay the problem. He started to push back the covers and freaked out, pulling them up to his chin. "Nope! Nope! I am not getting out of this bed until you fix this. There is absolutely no way I am dressing you, Mom."

_Piper _nodded at this. "A very good point. I can't say I relish the thought of letting my son dress me. I'd probably end up looking a mess." There was also the potential for a son who was scared for life if Wyatt was anything to judge by. He was made of stronger stuff than that and they both knew it.

_Wyatt_ looked between his parents and frowned in concentration. "I guess I could try a spell. Maybe a spell would change me into some day clothes." Looking his mother in the eye he asked, "Mom, what do you want to wear?"

"Let's see," _Piper_ hedged as she walked over to the closet and started looking through clothes. She pulled out a pantsuit and turned around. "I think this will work."

_Wyatt_ closed his eyes and climbed out of bed. He held out his hand.

_Piper_ walked over and handed the suit, hanger and all, over to _Wyatt_.

Eyes still closed, _Wyatt_ stood there for a moment before chanting. "My mother I must dress, so let's not make a fuss. Switch the outfits in the air. So day clothes I can wear." Nothing happened. "Did it work, because I don't think it did?"

* * *

Now, that that chapter is done, here's a review of what you have learned to this point:

Chris is in Wyatt's body.  
Leo is in Chris's body with Wyatt's powers.  
Piper is in Leo's body with Chris' powers.  
Wyatt is in Piper's body.

Technically, you know more than that, but that's all that has been revealed in the episode so far.

I bet you've guessed, but why didn't the spell work? And will Wyatt get ready one way or another? I do have the next chapter written. I just have to finish putting it in prose.


	4. Plans For the Day

First a thank you to my reviewers:

Cirolane – Wyatt isn't going to like it. He got antsy when he couldn't orb. How's he going to deal when he can't do any magic. I liked that line, too. I hope that you will find a lot of funny lines in here.

perrycharmed – Well, it stands to reason. Piper and Wyatt didn't just switch bodies. They are in the wrong gender. Hope you enjoy the continuation of that in this chapter.

TaintedDarkInuShemeeko – Well, you aren't quite here, but I imagine you will get here. I am glad you like the story thus far and hope that you enjoy the rest of the story. By now it is quite apparent that you are right.

What you know so far:  
Chris is in Wyatt's body.  
Leo is in Chris' body with Wyatt's powers.  
Piper is in Leo's body with Chris' powers.  
Wyatt is in Piper's body.

To help keep the confusion to a minimum I will use the name of the person who's speaking and thinking rather than the name of the person whose body they are in. In addition as long as they are in the wrong bodies I will put their names in italics. I hope that helps.

* * *

Chapter Three – Plans For the Day

"It didn't work," _Piper_ had to tell him. She looked at _Leo_ "Chris must have my powers, which means Wyatt doesn't have any."

_Wyatt's_ eyes popped open as the words reached him. "What did you say? Because I thought I heard you say I was powerless."

"Not powerless," _Piper_ refuted, "just without magic."

"Great!" _Wyatt_ exclaimed, annoyed. "Not only am I in the wrong body without my powers, but apparently without any."

"Let me try," _Piper_ offered.

_Wyatt_ shrugged and closed his eyes, again. "Please do."

_Now what was that spell Wyatt used?_ _Piper_ thought as she considered her options. Spell writing had never been her thing. And if the spell worked when she said it, it proved that _Wyatt_ didn't have powers. Remembering she thought, _Oh, yes. Now, I just need to modify it a little._ She walked over to _Wyatt_ and took the hanger out of his hand. "My body I must dress, so let's not make a fuss. Switch the outfits in the air, so day clothes I can wear."

Blue-white orbs surrounded Piper's body and the clothes in Leo's hand, hanger and all. When the orbs lifted the outfits had been switched. The nightgown even hung from the hanger.

_Piper_ smiled. "It worked."

_Leo_ shook his head smiling. "Yes, it did. I'm going to go to Chris' job now."

_Piper_ frowned. "Are you sure that is the best thing? I mean Wyatt's going to have to go to that interview, but do you have to go to Chris' job?

"Best not to rouse suspicion," _Leo_ reminded her. "Besides Chris didn't seem to like the idea of missing work, and he's going to Wyatt's job."

_Wyatt_ sighed.

"Something to say, Wyatt?" _Leo_ asked, easily picking up on his son's discontent.

Wyatt shook his head. "No, just the idea of Chris doing my job at the museum."

"You doubt your brother's ability to do it?"_ Leo_ queried.

_Wyatt_ shook his head. "Not exactly. I imagine Chris can do the job, especially for only a day. He's smart enough, just not interested."

"Then, what's the problem?" _Piper_ asked.

_Wyatt_ shrugged. "I just can't see Chris, of all people, telling someone he's me. He hate's lying."

_Piper_ and _Leo_ looked at each other. Both remembered back to a time long ago, when Chris had been an adult before he was born, when Chris lied as easily as he breathed.

_And yet he is so good at it, Piper_ thought.

"What?" _Wyatt_ looked between his parents. "What did I miss?"

_Piper_ shook her head. "Nothing. It's nothing much. I'm sure Chris will manage."

"I guess," _Wyatt_ admitted. "He's awfully good at avoiding answering a question." He cast his parents an accusatory look. When there was only silence, he sighed. "Fine. Whatever. Don't tell me anything." _I'll find it out eventually._ "Anything you want to tell me about this interview before I drive over there?"

"Not that I can think of," _Piper_ told him, trying to think. "All I can recall is that the young lady is applying for a job as a waitress and we're in need of a new one. Hire her is you thing she can do the job."

_Wyatt_ nodded. "All right. I'll see you in a while." He headed toward the door.

"Wyatt."

_Wyatt_ stopped and turned around to look at his mother.

"Remember to brush my teeth and hair before you go anywhere," _Piper_ told him.

Wyatt reached back and pulled up a handful of long hair. He sighed. "Why did you have to have such long hair?"

"No comments, buddy," _Piper_ instructed. "I happen to like my hair."

_Wyatt_ shrugged and headed toward the bathroom.

_Piper_ turned to _Leo_. "Did you have plans for the day?"

_Leo_ nodded. "You know how I've been helping Hank learn how to use his whitelighter powers?" When _Piper_ nodded, _Leo_ continued. "Well, with everything that happened last week, he is determined to learn absolutely everything he can, so I have been going there every day. I'm afraid you would probably be little help.

_Piper_ considered this. It was true that she didn't know all that much about whitelighters, especially their powers despite marrying one and having two sons who were half whitelighter. "I suppose I can go over there anyway. Maybe Paige or one of the kids has some sort of idea on how to fix this."

_Leo_ nodded. "I'll see you in the evening. Call if you come up with something."

_Piper_ smiled and raised one eyebrow. Blue-white orbs formed around her and _Piper_ orbed out.

* * *

What you know now:  
Chris is in Wyatt's body with Piper's powers.  
Leo is in Chris' body with Wyatt's powers.  
Piper is in Leo's body with Chris' powers.  
Wyatt is in Piper's body with Leo's lack of powers.

By default you know Chris has Piper's powers, so I figured I'd just go ahead and put it there.

So now they know who everyone is. It's time for work. What do you think will happen to each of them as they show up at someone else' job?


	5. Chris at the Museum

First a thank you to my patient readers. I go on spurts sometimes and this one will be getting some soon. I had trouble with a chapter and got frustrated. That chapter is done now, so I have at least three chapters that just need some editing and you'll suddenly have a story that within a week or two is twice as long as it was yesterday. These next four chapters deal with Chris at Wyatt's job, Leo at Chris' job, Wyatt at The Manor, and Piper arriving at Paige's, the first taste of three of them pretending to be someone they are not.

Now, a thank you to my reviewers:

piperspeanut – Wyatt is going to have a hard time. He's in his mom's body and he has no powers. He's not a happy camper. Fortunately he has a little help at The Manor. As to Chris, yes, he is very good at lying, however he doesn't want to, because do to his alter self's perchance for lying at the drop of a hat it was kind of focused on in his upbringing. He doesn't have as much of a problem with skirting around the subject.

Cirolane – Actually he does have a problem with lying. It's not a lack of ability. It's upbringing. In this time line that was something that was focused on due to the events of season six. He can lie and do a very good job with it, but he's uncomfortable with it. He will skirt around the subject much easier though. Wyatt is going to be in trouble is true enough. He does have a little help. Yeah, Piper, not much of a problem other than the whole in her husband's body thing, but she doesn't have to hide anything. Leo is in a little bit of difficulty, but that's mostly my fault. I'm not comfortable with writing about his surroundings. I have only a vague image of the place Chris works at. Now, the people Chris works with I am mostly comfortable with, especially Jody, I think. I'm getting more comfortable with Brian and Rose, and while I still want to hit David over the head with a newspaper or something, I'm getting to know him better and about to do something to him he is not going to like, but that's in the next episode.

Eric Bloodstone – Nope. Wyatt didn't wimp out. I did. I couldn't do that and I couldn't make Wyatt do that, though it did seem in character to freak out at the idea of either of his parents naked, but especially his mother.

perrycharmed – Hmm. I hadn't thought of how Chris might react to Piper's power to blow things up. Unlike Charmed, the power I forgot about wasn't the ability to freeze things. It was the power to blow them up. I have been trying to come up with ideas to work that in. We'll see. And yes, I plan to show that Wyatt is too dependent on magic.

kennster – Well, I don't know if you read the last chapter, since your review is on chapter 3, but since 4 was up at that point, I'll assume you did. I'm glad the story is making sense. This story has so much potential to be utterly confusing and I don't want that.

TaintedDarkInuShemeeko – Three reviews! Weee! Thanks for reviewing all the chapters as you read them. I really appreciate it when people do that. Sorry it took so long to get more. I was having trouble with this story, but I think I'm back on track. As I said above I have three more chapters that should be ready soon.

Lientjuhh – Thank you. I'm glad you are enjoying this story, too.

gabrieldarke – Chris doesn't even realize he has his mother's powers yet. He thinks that since he can't orb, he has no powers. He thinks he switched powers with his dad. No one called him to explain the additional knowledge they have now. So yeah, he's going to have some problems. Just not in this chapter. Wyatt is not going to like being without any powers, but that will be fun to watch, I think. I will do my best to make as little confusion as possible for my readers. Hopefully it will work. And yes, the reactions of the rest of the family will be varied. I'm not sure if Phoebe's girls will be involved, Prue's family won't. However, I suspect Paige is going to find it mildly amusing after switching bodies with Phoebe back in season four. We'll see.

Lexi – You changed names on me, so I'm just going to call you Lexi. Hope you don't mind. I'm glad you have enjoyed the story so far. Switching only bodies wouldn't be hard enough for them to deal with. I intend to have fun with them. I'm glad you liked Piper's comment about her hair. Phoebe and Paige both changed hair color and length, while Prue and Piper only let their hair grow. Piper, by far had the longest hair, so I figured she liked it that way and would be annoyed if it got messed with. I could see Wyatt doing that too. It would be very amusing . . . until Piper found out. Then, he'd best be glad she didn't have her powers, because she'd be mad.

Okay. As I have said before (and intend to continue saying until everything is set to rights) the name in italics is the person and not body they are in. In this chapter Chris is the only character in italics. He's in Wyatt's body, so what other's see isn't Chris, but instead it's Wyatt.

What we know:  
Leo is in Chris' body with Wyatt's powers  
Piper is in Leo's body with Chris' powers  
Wyatt is in Piper's body with no powers (aka Leo's "powers")  
Chris is in Wyatt's body with Piper's powers

* * *

Chapter Four – Chris at the Museum

Wyatt's blue mustang pulled into an empty parking space in front of the San Francisco Museum of Natural History. The door opened to the car and _Chris_ stepped out, still in Wyatt's body. Wyatt's body. Wyatt's car. Wyatt's job. This was going to be some day. _Who ever thought I'd be here to work? At least it's only for a day. This is almost as boring as Centennial._ He shook his head. _Oh, well. For Wyatt I have done a lot more uncomfortable things than working at a museum._ He headed toward building, not sure he was ready to do this, but ready to try. How hard could it be?

* * *

A little while later _Chris_ had found Wyatt's office. It was a relatively plush office, especially for someone only in his mid twenties. Still _Chris_ knew his brother had earned it. He just hopped that he didn't mess anything up for his brother. _I wish Wyatt had at least called with some sort of instructions. I haven't a clue what to do._

The door opened and Wyatt's co-worker, Nathan Hensley, entered the room. He looked at ease as he glanced into the room. There were papers dangling from one hand. "Hey, Wyatt. The boss asked me to bring up some things for you to look at since I was on my way up."

_Chris_ looked at Nathan's hands, trying to disguise the weariness he felt. "Let me take a look."

Nathan closed the gapped to Wyatt's desk and handed _Chris_ the papers. "It's about the new exhibit. I can't believe that lady is giving up all this stuff."

_Chris_ didn't say anything as he looked at the papers. _I hope he doesn't expect a coherent answer. I haven't the slightest clue what there are._ He froze as his eyes fell on a figure on the page. _Does that decimal place belong there? Who on earth gives away things worth this kind of money?_

"Well," Nathan said, breaking the silence, "what do you think?"

_Chris_ looked at the paper rather doubtfully. "Did he say what he wanted me to do with them?"

Nathan shrugged. "I don't know. Probably work your magic and make everything fit into that tiny room and still look good."

_Magic?_ _Chris_ shook his head, trying to clear it. _It's just a word. Snap out of it, Chris. There is no hidden meaning here._

"Wyatt, are you okay?" Nathan asked, concern filling his voice.

"Sorry," _Chris_ gave him a wry look, "I'm not exactly myself." _Truer words there never were._

"Yeah, okay," Nathan accepted easily. "I hope everything works out." He turned around and headed toward the door. He stopped at the doorway and turned back to look at _Chris_. "Hey, Wyatt. I wanted to say thank you."

"For what?"

"For helping out a couple of weeks ago so I could get home early," Nathan reminded him. "Lacey and I enjoyed the extra time."

_Right. Wyatt told me that was why he was still at work when Kali called for help._ "Glad that helped." _This is going to be a very long day._

* * *

What we know:  
Leo is in Chris' body with Wyatt's powers  
Piper is in Leo's body with Chris' powers  
Wyatt is in Piper's body with no powers (aka Leo's "powers")  
Chris is in Wyatt's body with Piper's powers

Hope you enjoyed the chapter. Minor victory for me. I finally came up with a last name for Nathan. He is a recurring character when Wyatt's work is involved, so a last name is nice. He was first introduced in "Stolen Souls" and appeared again in "A Friend In Need". He might have been in "A Mother Knows", but I don't feel like checking. His next definite appearance is in "My Curse On You," which won't be for a while, but he might show up between now and then.


	6. And So It Begins

First a thank you to my reviewers:

TaintedDarkInuSheemeko – Yeah. The boys get along well together, but that doesn't mean that have the exact same interests and they don't always, or even that often, talk shop.

CharmingKelsey16 – First, welcome to that story. It's always good to see a new face. Next, I'm glad you enjoy it and sorry that it's confusing. I am doing my best to keep that to a minimum. As to the other family member's reaction, I'm not sure if you are refuring to the other three when trying to fit into another's environment or if you mean those that Piper will be interacting with that don't yet know what's going on, but either way, you will get those reactions, so I hope you enjoy.

du1387 – Yes, Wyatt drives a Mustang. It has shown up a few times in the series. I haven't a clue as to what Chris drives though. I am sure he has a car, just not what. Yes, Chris can be a little perinoid and he doesn't know Nathan very well, so he doesn't really know how to gauge him.

Lientjuhh – Yes, a very long day. Enjoy.

ariex – Actually they couldn't. Leo of course has no powers, so Wyatt is stuck looking like Piper. Piper had that ability from a spell, but it has to have worn off by now, so Chris wouldn't be able to. And neither Wyatt or Chris has full whitelighter powers. That is one of the powers both of them are missing. At the moment only two members of the family can glamour . . . Paige and Hank. They could I suppose cast a spell, but most of them didn't have enough time to consider that, having to get where the other planned for that day. Once they get back from what they are doing that might be something they consider, but mostly they will be trying to figure out how to fix it, not make it look right temporarily. It's a good suggestion though.

thunderincrimson – Love your review. It does me good to hear that you are addicted to what I write.

I meant to post this yesterday, but our internet was out, so you get it today. I'm working on converting the next chapter to prose. I think it's longer, but who knows.

What you know:  
Leo is in Chris' body with Wyatt's powers.  
Piper is in Leo's body with Chris' powers.  
Wyatt is in Piper's body with no powers (Leo's).  
Chris is in Wyatt's body with Piper's powers.

* * *

Chapter Five - "And So It Begins"

_Leo_ walked down the sidewalk in front of the big department store where his son worked. He stopped and looked up at the sign that said "Centennial" in big letters. _Who ever thought the first time I actually entered Chris' work is would be pretending to be him._ He sighed. _I really hope I can do this._ He entered the building through the double glass doors.

* * *

Inside the Centennial break room, Rose Laughlin was sitting with her head in her hands as Jody Powell paced the room. "Oh, Jody. I just don't know what to do. David means well, I think, but I don't know what to tell him."

"It was foolish of him is what," Jody scoffed. "You'd think he'd know better than to ask such a thing."

"Surely it's not that bad," Rose protested.

"It could cost him his job, company policy about employee fraternization."

"It's not as if either of us is in management," Rose reminded her. "He . . ." Her voice trailed off as the door opened, letting _Leo_ in. She closed her mouth and looked at Jody before sighing.

"Good morning, Chris," Jody greeted, nothing in her voice indicating the previous conversation. "Ready for the day?"

_I will be when I figure out what Chris does at work,_ Leo thought as the door opened a second time.

David Vandemark entered the room and looked around. The girls looked at each other and Rose gave him a warm grin, "Good morning, David."

_Leo_ turned to look at David startled. _So that's the young man Chris warned me about._

David's eyes narrowed as he noticed Chris' eyes on him and he groaned. "Jody, Rose, would you mind getting on the clock and setting up for work. I need to talk to Chris."

Jody scowled at him. "You aren't our boss and you aren't on the clock either."

David gave _Leo_ a slightly pleading look. "Chris, you're second in command here. Some help please."

_Great._ _Leo_ considered his options and decided that he'd best talk to the boy, to see what was up. "Actually, why don't we go to my office to talk? _Hopefully he'll lead the way because I don't know where that is, only that he has one._

David nodded. "If that's how you want to do this, fine. If that will get you to talk."

* * *

They reached Chris' empty office a minute or so later. David entered before _Leo_ and stood in front of Chris' desk. _Leo_ walked around the desk and sat down. Both of them stood in silence until _Leo_ needed to know what the boy was thinking, why he wanted to talk to him and what he thought he knew. "Well?"

David sighed. "What is up with you, Chris? First, it's amnesia. Then, you remember again, but you're different. Now . . ." His voice trailed off, not sure what was wrong.

"What makes you believe something is wrong?" _Leo_ asked, wondering if David really did know something, or if he was bluffing. "I said nothing, did nothing to make you believe that."

"It's there all the same," David replied, his voice uncertain. "Will you tell me?"

_No, Leo_ thought, _I don't think Chris would thank me for doing that, but if he's willing to help, perhaps I can use that somehow._ "There is something up, but I don't think it is something you should worry about."

David frowned. "How long? How long do I have to cover for you?"

_Leo_ looked at him surprised. "I'm not asking you to cover for me." _And I sincerely hope Chris hasn't been either._

"I know," David sighed, wearily. "I just keep hoping this is a temporary laspe and you will soon be back to normal."

But Chris would never be back to what he was before. The second set of memories had taken care of that. _Why does Chris think this boy plans to bring him trouble?_

"I guess I'll be stocking in the back if you need some help," David told him, giving up. "Just stay out Mr. Hollis' way. He'll know something's up, too." When _Leo_ nodded, David continued. "I'm going to go clock in. I'll see you later."

_Leo_ nodded, again. _And so it begins._ He pushed his chair back and stood as David left the room.

* * *

What you know:  
Leo is in Chris' body with Wyatt's powers.  
Piper is in Leo's body with Chris' powers.  
Wyatt is in Piper's body with no powers (Leo's).  
Chris is in Wyatt's body with Piper's powers.

The next chapter follows Wyatt to The Manor, Piper's restaurant, and meeting the person he is supposed to interview. Hope you have fun with that. I will.

Anyone trying to figure out the people Chris works with:

David is a friend of Chris' from work, but ever since magic came back and Chris got his messed up multi-time line memory, Chris has been focused on other things and David is worried about him, but all Chris has noticed is that David is suspicious of him (which he is) and also Wyatt told Chris at one point that David could be trusted to cover for him at work, but not with the secret of magic, so Chris hasn't gone out of his way to work on the friendship.

Rose is dating David. She is a sweet girl for the most part, but wrapped up in her own world, so she doesn't really notice what's going on with Chris.

Jody is more observant. She's noticed some strange things going on with Chris and his family and she is curious as to what is behind them.

Brian didn't show up in this chapter, but he is the new guy. At this point he's worked there about a month and a half, so he's less new, but still new compared to the others. I'm not sure if he'll be in this episode, but he will be in the next, so I might as well mention him. Also, he was someone Chris new in the other time line, which Chris hasn't quite noticed yet, because his physical appearance is altered (cleaned up, smooth shaven, and such) and his last name doesn't really come up. Brian is mortal, but he has the ability to blend in and not be noticed. He's a nice guy with a past of sorts.

Mr. Hollis is the boss, but you won't really get to know him too well. He'll be in this episode. He doesn't realize that anything is wrong with Chris.


	7. No Cooking Allowed

First a thank you to my reviewers:

piperspeanut - Um. I'm not sure what the review part of that was, but thank you for reviewing chapter five (since the prologue counts as a chapter on ff). Ah. There's the review. David. Man, I wish I could figure him out. I'm going to so torment the poor guy in the next episode. Chris is going to find out exactly how far he can trust David then. And David is going to want to shoot Chris (figuratively . . . maybe) for getting him into that mess. I have been avoiding figuring out what Centennial was for the last eight episodes, but for this one and the next one I had to find out. Yeah, Wyatt's calm, collected, and freaked out that he'll mess up. Thank goodness for Drinka.

du1387 - You'll have to wait for answers on David until the next episode. David will be a wide open book in that one. What do you mean about Brian? I am confused. Did I even mention Brian? Okay, I checked and I see where I mentioned Brian, but I'm still confused. Maybe you meant someone else.

TaintedDarkInuSheemeko - Yeah, Leo is in a situation as someone else where things are going on and he doesn't have all the facts. Of course neither does Chris. Here is the next chapter for the story. The beginning of Wyatt's interview.

ariex - Unfortunately they all had places to be early in the morning, except Leo didn't have to go to Paige's to help Hank. When Chris left for Wyatt's job, he wasn't even sure where Wyatt was. This also meant Leo couldn't ask Chris for info on his job. Piper did talk to Wyatt about the interview she had and Wyatt knows enough for the job (though not how to cook) and the people who work their to get by. Unfortunately Piper neglected to tell Wyatt the name or even gender of the person he is interviewing for her. Most likely someone else set up the interview for her, so she didn't know. It's a first interview. If they had time, they would have made at least some attempt to fix this. Piper and Wyatt had breakfast (though that isn't seen), because the interview wasn't until a little later than Wyatt and Chris' jobs started. Hope that helped some.

Lexi - Actually, Chris isn't so much a bad liar as he was brought up in this time line to hate lying. I guess that does kind of make him a bad liar, as you can see on his face that he's uncomfortable. Chris is trying not to lie and at the same time trying not to tell Nathan the truth. It's rather difficult for him at the moment. I'm glad you thought I put a lot of thought into this. I try to do that with everything. At the moment I am dealing with a major alteration to the timeline of season three (of Charmed: Heritage) and how it will effect the later seasons. I am still trying to figure out when the change will come into light and considering writing a short story to explain some things that happen . . . not an episode so much as a long epilogue or something, because it will not have Wyatt or Chris in it so far as I can tell. I wish so badly that I was that far along, because there are so many things I could say if I was. I have six seasons planned and various potential side stories.

thunderincrimson - Well, Chris never really talked about his job and this morning he only had a few minutes to brief Leo before he had to run off to Wyatt's job, so yeah, Leo's unprepared, but trying to cope.

Sorry everyone that it took so long to get a new chapter up. I had a deadline to meet on another story. For anyone interested in finding out what was taking up my time (storywise) check out "Patty's Treasure Box". It's about a special gift from Patty to her daughters.

As Wyatt is the only one in this chapter, it should be too hard to keep straight who's who. When it says Wyatt in italics, it's him, but he looks like Piper. This is the first time you get to see Piper's assistant chef, Callie Ranard. In honor of that I got her a rep and a full name. Her name is Calista Lauren Ranard. Her rep is Amber Borycki. Drinka's rep is Mia Maestro of Alias (among other things I imagine). Emily (the interview)'s rep is Gemma Ward, since I'm telling people's reps.

What you know:  
Leo is in Chris' body with Wyatt's powers.  
Piper is in Leo's body with Chris' powers.  
Wyatt is in Piper's body with Leo's lack of powers.  
Chris is in Wyatt's body with Piper's powers.

* * *

Chapter Six - No Cooking Allowed

Piper's white sports car pulled into the back parking lot of her restaurant. The engine turned off and a moment later the door opened letting _Wyatt_ out. _Here goes nothing._ He walked around the building toward the front. _What if I hire someone Mom wouldn't or I don't hire someone she would? Why couldn't she have postponed this?_ He sighed. _Why? Because we don't know how long this will take. It would be rather rude to tell someone "Sorry, but I can't interview you for a while and no, I don't know when I'll be available." It's bound to annoy most. Besides, the business doesn't go away just because we have problems. Hope Callie doesn't mind staying. Hope no one wants me to cook._ He grimaced as he stopped in front of the doors to the restaurant. _Here goes nothing._ He pulled open the doors and walked inside.

* * *

Just inside the entry way Drinka Deguilio stood behind the hostess booth. When _Wyatt_ entered from outside she looked up, her usual smile on her lips. "Good morning, Mrs. Halliwell.

"Not good," _Wyatt_ mumbled, "and not Mrs. Halliwell."

Drinka frowned. "What was that?"

_Wyatt_ stopped and looked at her. He sighed. "I'm not Mrs. Halliwell. Our bodies got switched around."

"Oh." Drinka's eyes widened. "Who are you then?"

"Wyatt." His tone was flat.

"Oh," Drinka blinked. "Is this permanent?"

"I hope not," _Wyatt_ groaned. "I like my body. I want it back." _And right now my brother has it._

Drinka frowned and considered his words. "You will stay away from the stove, won't you?"

_Wyatt_ sighed at the oft repeated words. "I have been warned several times about that. I'm to let Callie do the cooking while I interview someone and then I am to leave." Realizing he didn't know anything about the person he was interviewing he asked, "Is the person I am to interview here?"

"She is," Drinka assured him. "Ty told me she is sitting at the booth near the kitchen. We aren't too busy so you shouldn't have a problem finding her."

"Thanks," he offered glad at least that part would be easy. _This had better go well._

"Good luck, Mr. Halliwell," Drinka wished him, all too cheery in his opinion.

He gave her a less than reassuring smile as he replied uncertainly, "Yeah." Steeling himself he turned away and entered the main dining area.

He was halfway to the kitchen when he stopped to see if he could find his interview. _Now, where is she? And who is she for that matter? No one has mentioned a name._

A young woman in her late teens, early twenties stood up from one of the booths. She had long blonde hair and delicate features. A grin grew on her face and walked over to _Wyatt_. "Hello, Mrs. Halliwell. I'm Emily. I'm here for the interview." She extended her hand and Emily Colson smiled at him.

_Wyatt_ gulped at he looked at her. _No one mentioned she was pretty._

"Mrs. Halliwell?" Emily queried a little concerned.

He took her hand and shook it. "Sorry," he apologized. "It's nice to meet you. Why don't you go sit down while I get some stuff from the back?"

"All right," she smiled. "It's good to meet you. I love this place."

"Thank you," was all he could think to say before he walked toward the kitchen as Emily sat down.

* * *

In the kitchen Callie Ranard was at the stove cooking when _Wyatt_ entered the room from the dining area. She looked up at the sound of the doors swinging. "Hello, Mrs. Halliwell. Did you find your interview?"

"I did," _Wyatt_ acknowledged. "Do you know where her application and résumé are?"

"On your desk, I think?" Callie frowned at him. "Is everything okay?"

_As if I can tell you,_ he thought before saying, "Something's up, but don't worry about it. It will get fixed, but I'm going to have to leave after the interview."

"Leave?" she asked, frowning.

"Yeah," he nodded, "can you stay longer today? I understand if you have plans, but I really can't stay." _Understatement. If I stay, I'm caught, because I really can't cook._

"Yeah, sure," Callie agreed confused but amicable. "It's Monday. I'm free. You know you might want to hire another cook."

"Chef," _Wyatt_ countered without thinking. It was an argument he had heard his mom have dozens of times, usually with Callie.

"Whatever," Callie shrugged. "I cook. I don't chef. Just think about it. I'll get one of the waiters to help out in the kitchen today. One of the requirements of the job," she added wryly.

_To work at The Manor, you have to be able to cook even if you're just a waiter or waitress,_ he mentally recited the words that more or less kept him from ever working for his mom. _Yeah, yeah, I know. Let's hope that this interview goes well._ With that he headed toward his mom's office ready to have this over with.

* * *

What you know:  
Leo is in Chris' body with Wyatt's powers.  
Piper is in Leo's body with Chris' powers.  
Wyatt is in Piper's body with Leo's lack of powers.  
Chris is in Wyatt's body with Piper's powers.

Do you think Wyatt can pull this off? He has more experience than I do at interviews, but he's never done while pretending to be someone else, especially someone who is also his mom. The next chapter is about Piper arriving at Paige's looking like Leo. What do you think is in store for her there? She's on familiar ground and she doesn't have to pretend, but that doesn't necessarily mean everything will go smoothly. I'm working on the chapter after that. For those who want to read ahead and see how Piper's arrival fares, check it out at my site. The chapter will by posted there as soon as I finish posting this chapter here.


	8. Problems Bigger Than Powers

First a thank you to my very patient reviewers: ariex and FirePony16

piperspeanut - That's for saying hi. And I look foward to showing you what I do with David. I'm trying to work on that story a little, but have done even less of that then I have of this.

TaintedDarkInuShemeeko - That's going to be interesting. I actually have the entire interview finished. Be warned, I don't know much about interviews.

Lexi - You will get to see that actually. As I explained in the PM, no this isn't that Emily. She's too young for one. That would be interesting if it was, but it's not.

gabrieldarke - Yep, Wyatt's not comfortable, but he's trying to focus on what he's supposed to do here, which is interview this girl. Drinka's kind of not sure what to think here, but she gets magic better then most mortals, so she takes this well enough.

I feel sooooo bad. I thought I posted this chapter. You get to see what's going on with Piper here. As with pervious chapters her name is in italics and will stay will that way as long as she looks like Leo.

What you know:  
Leo is in Chris' body with Wyatt's powers.  
Piper is in Leo's body with Chris' powers.  
Wyatt is in Piper's body with Leo's lack of powers.  
Chris is in Wyatt's body with Piper's powers.

* * *

Chapter Seven – Problems Bigger Than Powers

Hank Mitchell, the youngest child and only son of Henry Mitchell and Paige Matthews-Mitchell, was having a very frustrating day. He sat on the couch in the back den where his mom kept her magical supplies. In his lap was a large, untitled book containing spells his mom had taken from the official Halliwell Book of Shadows. It was mostly there so that his older sisters didn't have to drive over to the manor to look up spells. He wasn't even sure they considered him using it. After all, unlike his sisters, he could orb.

His eyes were scrunched tightly closed as he finished off his latest attempt at casting a spell. ". . . To be unseen."

One of his eyes slid open and then the other. He looked around and sighed as he realized nothing had changed. "Nothing!" He exclaimed in exasperation. "Nothing, nothing, nothing. Why can't I even cast a spell? What kind of witch can't cast a spell?"

The sound of the doorbell ringing from the front of the house forced him to stop his self pity and head to the front of the house. He left the spell book on a table and closed the door to the den behind him. His sisters were upstairs working on something girly, he didn't actually know what, but they weren't going to answer the door. His dad was at work. He wasn't quite sure where his mom was, but that only confirmed that it was up to him to answer the door. Besides that, it was most likely Uncle Leo here for his lessons and if anyone in the house heard the bell, they knew that.

When Hank reached the front hall he didn't bother asking who was there. He just pulled open the door and offered _Piper_ a half smile. "Uncle Leo, come in. I was wondering when you would arrive." Except something was wrong. His whitelighter sensing powers were going nuts. This wasn't what he thought it was, perhaps even this wasn't _who_ he thought it was. When _Piper_ entered the house and closed the door behind her saying nothing, Hank grew only surer. "Is something wrong?"

"Yes."

One word confirming what he was already sure of, but what was the problem? "Care to share?"

"A demon or something did something to my family last night," _Piper_ told him as dread filled Hank. "I'm not your Uncle Leo."

"Uh," he mumbled. He hadn't expected it to be laid out quite that plainly or to be right that this wasn't Uncle Leo. "Okay. Who are you?"

"Piper."

Twin eye brows rose and Hank stared at her. "Aunt Piper? You sure look like Uncle Leo."

"Yes," _Piper_ agreed glancing in a mirror in the front all, seeing her husband's reflection staring back at her. "Our bodies and our powers got switched around."

Hank frowned and looked at her. "Wait, so you have Uncle Leo's body, but you have powers?"

"Chris' powers as best we can tell," she offered before chuckling. "Leo's giddy playing around with Wyatt's powers. I think he misses being a whitelighter." Sadness filled her eyes as realization mingled with memory, "Which is my fault."

"You know he doesn't blame you," Hank assured her, having had conversations on the topic with his uncle more than once.

"Yeah," she admitted. "I don't get it."

"So are you just here to tell me that in person?" Hank asked confused.

"Nope," she denied. "I was actually hoping that I could get your mom to brainstorm with me." Looking at him with a smile, she hurried to add, "Or if you want I could try giving you some lessons in something. Leo's said that's what he's doing."  
"Yeah," Hank agreed, "he's trying to help me learn how to use my whitelighter powers. Do you know anything about whitelighter powers?"

She chuckled, "Not much from experience, but I have two boys who are half whitelighter."

Grinning Hank glamoured himself to look like first Wyatt and then Chris. His shoulders shrugged as he turned back into himself. "Yeah, but can they do everything a whitelighter can do or do they deal in witch powers, too?"

"They have both," she admitted a little confused, "but so do you."

"Do I?" Hank quirked a brow at his aunt, a gesture he had learned from her.

Piper quirked an identical eyebrow right back. "Is something the matter?"

"Probably not," Hank waved a hand dismissively, trying to make it sound nothing like as important as it was to him. He didn't like worrying people. "Don't worry about it. I'll go see if I can find Mom. I think she's about."

"You sure?" _Piper_ asked, again.

"Yeah, I'm sure," Hank told her, forcing his face to look carefree. "Switched bodies tops about anything I can come up with in my life."

_Piper_ laughed, assured that everything was all right, but she didn't see the sadness in Hank's eyes as he walked away and she didn't understand her son's powers enough to realize exactly how much they would be telling her if she only listened.

* * *

What you know:  
Leo is in Chris' body with Wyatt's powers.  
Piper is in Leo's body with Chris' powers.  
Wyatt is in Piper's body with Leo's lack of powers.  
Chris is in Wyatt's body with Piper's powers.

The next chapter is back to Wyatt at The Manor. Back to me being clueless and hopeing it read well even so. It's called "Grilled Cheese Interview".


	9. Grilled Cheese Interview

First a thank you to my reviewers who are very patient:

piperspeanut - Thank you for reviewing a second time. I just posted the nect chapter on my site, today, so if you are interested it is there.

FirePony16 - It is my belief that those who where born with whitelighter powers, don't necessarily have all whitelighter powers, and as such I have decided that neither Wyatt nor Chris can glamour. There are other things they can't do having to do with whitelighter powers. Also it wouldn't do Leo much good to glamour if he could, since someone has to look like Chris as long as no one has called Chris in sick. It would be useful to Piper, since she's with people who know what's going on, but none of them have that ability so it ends up not working. I appreciate the suggestion. I have tried to explain it in more detail below so that people understand a little bit more of what's going on.

du1387 - *Laugh* Wyatt is doing his best to try and make a decision based off what his mom would want, so we'll see. I actually have the entire interview and the decision process written to the way I want it. I hadn't thought about that in regards to the elders, but that's actually a good idea and makes sense with what I have in mind, so I might use that. We'll see.

TaintedDarkInuSheemko - He's very frustrated, especially since his sisters have no problem learning their powers . . . well, not no problem, there have been problems, but they can use witch powers, and that frustrates him a lot.

Lexi - Yep, Hank is very frustrated, trying to find out why he can't even cast a spell. And he's not ready to explain that to anyone. And yes, Piper is in a better sutuation than the rest of her family.

Since I have had multiple people at different points point out that that some or all of them should glamour, I feel the need to point something out. As I have things set up those who are only part whitelighter (with one exception which will be explained much later in another story) do not have all the powers of a whitelighter just as a witch may fully be a witch even with a mortal parent, they will not necessarily have their witch parent's power. Out of Patty's four girls, only one shared her power to freeze time. Likewise neither Wyatt nor Chris can freeze time (still deliberating about Melinda . . . in all perspectives). The point of this is that in this story, the only character you will see who can glamour, is Hank and I believe Paige can. If the power was not demonstrated on the show, there is a high probability that they don't have it. Paige proved she could glamour during season six. Piper's having the ability to glamour during the first part of season eight was through a spell and as far as I am concerned, not something she can still do. Hope that makes sense and explains why none of them have tried glamouring as a solution.

Hope everyone has fun reading this part of the interview. For anyone who is wondering I decided that Emily is nineteen.

* * *

Chapter Eight – Grilled Cheese Interview

Back at The Manor _Wyatt_ headed back into the dining room, papers in hand. He walked over to the book where Emily was sitting. Emily smiled as _Wyatt_ put the papers down onto the table between them and sat down across from her. He looked down at the résumé on top before he looked at Emily. _Just how old is this girl? This résumé is almost nonexistent._ "It says here that you have never worked at a restaurant before."

Emily nodded. "That's correct."

"In fact it says that you have never worked anywhere before," _Wyatt_ added.

"It's not a blank piece of paper you know," Emily reminded him, slightly annoyed.

_Did she just sass me? Wyatt_ asked himself, trying to keep his eyes steady.

Emily composed herself and smiled apologetically. "Sorry. I've spent the last few year helping my mom take care of her grandmother. She died six weeks ago. This was one of Granny's favorite places to eat, so when I thought of places I'd like to work now that she's gone, I thought of here." She paused before adding, "I can do the job." And then she smiled just a little bigger.

_I can't tell if she's telling the truth of not,_ he worried as he tried to size her up._ And that is such a pretty smile. I need to be careful, but I need the answer._ "Why don't we start with why you want to work here and how you think you can help this mu . . . er, restaurant?" _I can't believe I did that, Wyatt _held back a moan. His mom was going to kill him. _This isn't the museum._

Emily frowned. "What?" After a brief pause she shrugged it off. "As I already told you, I love this restaurant. Amazing food, amazing atmosphere. And I hear you're a most congenial boss."

_Is she talking about Mom?_ Apparently she didn't know his mom all that well, but then she didn't claim to. "I have high expectations of my employees."

Emily just smiled. "I'm sure you do. To run a place this good, you'd have to."

_Wyatt_ scribbled something on the paper, wondering if she worked as well as she flattered. "And what do you think you bring to this restaurant?"

"I'm a hard worker," Emily assured him, "and a friendly person." She grinned, "and I have great navigational skilled.

_What? Wyatt_ blinked with that one as it drew a blank. "Navigational skills?"

"You know, for navigating around tables and people while waitressing."

_Oh._ And that would not have occurred to him. "I see." He scribbled something else on the paper and looked back up at Emily. "Can you cook?"

It was Emily's turn to stare blankly and blink. "Cook? I'm applying for a waitressing job."

_Oh boy. Wyatt_ thought as he processed that. _Was that a 'no'?_ Quoting his mom he informed her that, "All employees are required to cook from time to time, if we get busy and need their help." And that was why _he_ would never work there.

"I see." Emily was silent as she considered this. "I can cook, nothing fancy, but I can follow a recipe and make is taste good."

_Then you can do better than I can,_ he mentally retorted before saying. "In that case why don't we go to the kitchen and see what you can do."

Emily's eyes widened as she protested, "But I don't have anything prepared."

"That's okay," _Wyatt_ was quick to assure her. "Nothing fancy. I'd be fine with a grilled cheese sandwich or a well put together salad."

She glanced around, speculatively. "You would?"

_It's more that I can do, Wyatt_ thought wryly,_ well, the sandwich anyway. I can manage the salad . . . maybe._ "Well, a grilled cheese sandwich isn't our normal fare here, but it will do for a test of your cooking ability. If you were applying as an assistant chef that would be different. _And Callie would be quite thrilled,_ he admitted silently to himself. It was really too bad Chris didn't work there. He could cook. "Since you are applying for a waitressing job, grilled cheese should work or something similar."

"What happened to a salad?" Emily asked, slightly amused.

"I decided it wouldn't be much of a test of your ability to cook," _Wyatt_ admitted.

She smiled a little at that. "True. I can manage a grilled cheese sandwich."

_Wyatt_ stood and looked down at her. "All right then. Let's head to the kitchen."

* * *

Now it's back to Piper at Paige's house. How do you think Paige is reacting to this situation?


	10. Sisterly Payback

First a thank you to my reviewers:

FirePony16 – I'm glad that made sense. Sometimes I change things based off reviews. I did that with my "Imaginary Fiends (and Real Friends)". If not for reviews the story would be over, quite literally ending in the next couple of chapters, maybe even the next one. As it is, a comment sparked a whole other part of this story, one I hope my readers will like.

Lexi – Wyatt is trying. He really is. I hope everyone is amused in the rest of the chapters involving the interview at some of the things he does to make sure he gets this right. He will be soundly scolded for at least one of them, though that might be off stage. I had fun with his interview of Emily. You are going to have to wait on Leo and Chris. Leo's next appearance is in chapter twelve and Chris is next in chapter thirteen. This is because the events with Wyatt go fairly rapid fire, this interview not taking that long and Piper is the freest being able to talk openly with her sister. Leo and Chris are going to be showing up soon.

piperspeanut – Thanks for checking this out and reviewing it on my site. I'm glad you liked it. I hope that near slip up sounded natural.

JadeAlmasy – Yeah, he did. I have fun with Wyatt. He's so unexplored on Charmed other than as a kid.

thunderincrimson – Yeah, Chris is really good at cooking. Wyatt's really not. Melinda . . . can cook to survive, but nothing fancy. I will have more examples of Chris' ability to cook in later episodes.

TaintedDarkInuShemeeko – That's pretty much it.

Du1387 – No Piper's not going to be very pleased, but she's going to be even less pleased about something else he does in a later chapter. Just wait. Yes, interaction between Wyatt and Emily will be interesting. My fingers are itching to talk about some things to come, but no, you'll have to wait.

I spent much of the last week working on a story that will not be posted here. It is part of a large project I am working on with others and will not be shown until the entire thing is completed. I finished the entire story in about six or seven days. It is a bit shorter than I prefer and I'm not happy with it, but I finished it. There will be lots of revisions I imagine. We have time. Out of around ninety . . . Oh my word, ninety, creeping myself out here . . . stories are done we will be airing it. They are Charmed stories. And whenever we do get them done I will let you guys know. I won't be able to help it. I'll be so excited. I started working on these about the same time I started posting on ff.

Okay, onto the reason you are reading this, the next chapter. Enjoy.

What you know:

Leo is in Chris' body with Wyatt's powers.  
Piper is in Leo's body with Chris' powers.  
Wyatt is in Piper's body with no powers (Leo's).  
Chris is in Wyatt's body with Piper's powers.

* * *

Chapter Nine – Sisterly Payback

_Piper_ was sitting on a long couch that curved from the only door in the room left to the corner and all along the next wall. When Hank entered the room followed by his mother, Paige Matthews-Mitchell, she looked up at her sister.

Paige looked at her with a mischievous twinkle in her eyes. "Hank tells me you're my sister."

_Piper_ scowled. "Yes, Paige. I'm Piper."

"So Leo's in your body?" Paige asked, curiously. The "again" at the end just lingered in the air.

And so it was to Paige's surprise when _Piper_ shook her. "No, Wyatt is."

Paige faulted and actually looked worried. "Wyatt? Is he at The Manor? Pretending to be you?"

_Piper_ nodded. "I had an interview, so he's doing that. After that's over, he's supposed to come here, unless you don't want to help."

"Are you kidding?" Paige fairly beamed. "This is awesome . . . I mean," she changed, trying to look contrite and failing, "I'd love to help."

"You don't have to be so enthusiastic," _Piper_ scowled.

Paige shrugged. "I miss magic and this is so much less stressful than last week."

"I don't want to stay in my husband's body with my son's powers, Paige," _Piper_ informed her. "This is stressful."

Paige gave her a look. "And yet . . ."

"Mom!" Hank exclaimed, shocked she would imply such a thing.

"Don't worry," Paige was quick to assure him. "We won't leave them this way."

_Piper_ scowled, again. "You're not supposed to mock me."

Paige tried to look serious, but failed. "I'll try." She turned to her son and suggested, "Would you go find your sisters?" Once Hank nodded and left the room, Paige turned back to her sister. "Now, why don't you start at the beginning and tell me what you know."

* * *

What you know:

Leo is in Chris' body with Wyatt's powers.  
Piper is in Leo's body with Chris' powers.  
Wyatt is in Piper's body with no powers (Leo's).  
Chris is in Wyatt's body with Piper's powers.

The next chapter is in the kitchen at The Manor. More interaction between Wyatt and Callie. Anyone wanting to see what Callie looks like, there is a bio on my site. I figured since she was physically in an episode it would be a good idea to figure out what she looked like. She works for Piper. She'll be around. The bio to look under for her is "Calista Ranard". Still trying to figure out how on earth Hope has the most views of the bios . . . and probably of the threads for the site. I hope to get the next chapter up much sooner than this one. I have it finished it just needs formatting. The one after that is bothering me, so I will be rewriting it, but chapter ten should be ready relatively soon.


	11. Good Enough?

First a thank you to my reviewers:

JadeAlmasy – Glad you enjoyed my job at writing Paige.

FirePony16 – Yep, definitely longer. In fact I'm beginning to think it will be longer than the 70 chapters I predicted. I've written 56 chapters so far, and I don't really see the end in sight and there is so much left to do. I'm glad you enjoyed this chapter.

piperspeanut – As it says below, I now have through chapter fourteen posted. Looking at the info I have, there will be at least 23 chapters to this story . . . I think.

TaintedDarkInuShemeeko – I'm afraid this one is short, too. The next one is much longer. Glad you enjoyed the last one and hope you enjoy this one as well.

du1387 – Working on that. I don't have major progress with the demon until chapter 15. I had things that needed to get done in various place first, so that got pushed that way. It's actually a lot sooner than in my outline, which I agree, they need to get to figuring out and vanquishing this demon.

Soulstar86 – I am fully impressed and bowled over. Wow! Thanks, so much for spending so much of your time reading my stories. I'm delighted that you love them. As to referencing stuff in Charmed, I like to do that, so there will be a lot more of that. I also intend to bring back innocents, both mine from this series and from Charmed. Of course, I've already brought in Kevin and indirectly Ava and of course the people on the answering machine. Kevin will be showing up again, many times, though not much this season. Ava will show up eventually, though I am at a loss as to when. I can think of one story that will possibly have her. I have an upcoming episode with Tyler in it. I hope I hear from you a lot in reviews.

I'm afraid that this is a rather short chapter. One of the ones coming up is considerable longer. I have through chapter fourteen posted on my site. Fifteen is completed as well and that's where the most progress on the demon hunt comes, including a name for the demon. I will upload that chapter on my site in the next couple of days or sooner if I get reviews. As I have that far ready, I will post those chapters as I get reviews. The more reviews I get the more inclined I will be to upload a chapter sooner.

* * *

Chapter Ten – Good Enough?

_Wyatt_ and Callie stood several feet from the stove watching Emily as she worked on slicing a block of cheese. Callie leaned over and whispered, "You had to interview a waitress. We need a replacement for Jen."

_Jen? Wyatt_ thought puzzled. _Oh, right, the chef that quit before Christmas._

Not knowing _Wyatt's_ thoughts, Callie kept whispering. "It's been almost two months. We can't keep doing this." She watched as Emily grabbed a skillet and kept working. "I can't believe you suggested she make a grilled cheese sandwich."

_I don't cook,_ he thought to himself, knowing he couldn't voice the thought, _and I can't name half the stuff on the menu here . . . what was I supposed to suggest?_

"So how it the interview going so far?"

_Wyatt_ realized that this time she wanted an answer, so he whispered back, "She is friendly." It was the only answer he could come up with.

Callie frowned and looked at him. "What?"

It was then that Emily came over with two plates saving him from having to answer. "I figured I'd make one for each of you." She held out the plates.

Callie looked at it suspiciously, as if she hadn't eaten something so ordinary in a long time, but she did take the plate.

_Wyatt_ took the proffered plate and picked up the sandwich. After he took a bite, he smiled. _This is good._ "Thank you, Emily. Why don't you go back into the dining room and I'll be with you shortly."

Emily smiled, brightly. "Yes, Ma'am."

_Ma'am,_ the word reverberated through his mind. _Mom wouldn't like that too much._ He watched as Emily left the kitchen before turning to Callie, wondering how one got advice without appearing to get advice.

* * *

So what do you think? Will Emily get hired? Find out in chapter twelve "To Hire Or Not", but first chapter eleven "The Book." Both chapters are considerably longer than this one. Hope you enjoyed and please let me know what you thought, either way.


	12. The Book

First a thank you to my reviewers:

Cirolane – I am soooo happy to see you, but you already know that. *Does happy dance* Anyway, I hope my latest response made sense. And I definitely welcome constructive criticism. It helps me figure out where am going wrong and helps me fix it. And I was feeling like I was just going all wrong, so what you wrote helped pinpoint some things that hopefully will help. And you are wanted. Definitely glad to see you.

lemonrocker – Wyatt's scenes seem to be the high points of this story, so I am glad you enjoyed that.

FirePony16 – Chris coming up in about three chapters. He's in chapter fourteen. And then again in seventeen, and maybe eighteen depending on what happens there. I see potential to have fun there and I need to have some fun in this story away from what Wyatt's up to. Cirolane made me think of it.

JadeAlmasy – Yep, Wyatt is fun.

EmmettCullenLuva0506 – But he's so fun to play with. *Innocent eyes* He'll get over the trauma of looking like his mother eventually. For now, I play with him.

I couldn't think of a better name for this chapter, so I hope you think it fits. It's probably the longest chapter in the story so far. Hope you enjoy.

Remember that when it says Piper, she looks like Leo.

* * *

Chapter Eleven – The Book

Paige had listened closely as _Piper_ explained what she knew. The longer _Piper_ talked the longer the frown on Paige's face grew. And it wasn't as if there was much to be said either. It just worried her. "Well, that's not much to go on."

Before _Piper_ could respond a voice just outside the room called their attention to it. "Mom?"

Paige looked up as her twin daughters, Alanna first, and then Janice peeked in. Hank was right behind them, his face kind of wry. "Come in, girls."

The three teens entered the room and Alanna plopped down on the couch next to _Piper_. "Hank says you're Aunt Piper."

_Piper_ sighed. "Yes, Alanna."

"Then, why don't you look like her?" Alanna wanted to know with the open curiosity of someone a decade younger than her seventeen years.

Janice and Hank walked over to the couch, but both remained standing and silent. Janice's eyes mirrored her twin's curiosity, even if as the more reserved and quiet twin, she wouldn't easily ask.

"I don't what caused this," _Piper_ informed her. "And I don't know how to change it. It's not like I can just flip a switch and fix it."

"Why not?" Alanna wanted to know. "Hank also said you have Chris' powers, so why don't you just glamour?"

_Piper_ frowned. "I don't even know if that's one of his powers, but even if it is, I wouldn't begin to know how to use it."

Alanna turned to look at her younger brother. Though she spoke to _Piper_, she asked for confirmation from him at the same time as she stated, "Hank can teach you."

Hank raised his eyebrow. It was quite like her to volunteer him, but no one ever volunteered him to teach magical things, especially to adults who had practiced magic longer than he had been alive, adults who had taught them magic.

_Piper_ considered the idea and looked at Hank. "It's worth a try, if you are willing. You obviously have control of that ability, if what I saw at the door was anything to go by."

Hank frowned at that. "Not really," he informed them trying to figure out how to phrase his response. "It's just something I can do. I think about someone I want to look like and suddenly I change so that I do look like them." He looked at his mom. Trying to take the attention off him he asked, "Mom, you can glamour, can't you?"

Paige nodded. "I suppose I can. It's been a while since I've tried."

"Then, you need to start relearning your powers, Mom," Janice spoke up for the first time since entering the room. "If only half of what I've heard these last several weeks is true, then we need to be prepared. Magic is back, yes, but so is evil, and evil has not changed what it wants. It wants us. And it wants those most innocent, those we are to protect. That's what you taught us, Mom, you and Dad."

_Piper_ and Paige looked at each other before Paige turned back to face her daughter. "I think sometimes I forget that, but you are right." She glanced back at her sister for a moment and then back at Janice. "And since you are right, what is your take on this situation? Do you have any ideas here?"

Janice sat down on the couch next to her mom. "I think it's a distraction. No one's attacked, right?"

"Right," _Piper_ agreed.

"So I think we have two problems," Janice continued, "the obvious one and the question of what's going on while we are distracted." She looked worried at her mom. "But I don't know what to do about it."

Paige considered this and looked at her three children. "I think what we need to do is work on both problems, but I don't see any way to find out what this demon wants without finding out who he is, so we'll need the Book of Shadows."

"We could check the one you made first," Alanna suggested. "It has a lot of info in it. Maybe the demon is in there."

"Isn't there any other way we can try looking for this demon?" Hank asked, almost forgotten by the others in the room.

_Piper_ looked at her nephew as she thought about that. "Maybe, but only if we can find something of the demon's."

"Or get a premonition off of something," Hank retorted.

Alanna looked questioningly at her brother, surprised at his tone, before she got up from her seat and left the room.

"Which we can't do with Phoebe missing," _Piper_ returned, "so it's no use bringing it up." She turned to Paige. "Any luck on that front?"

Paige shook her head. "I haven't found anything. I even summoned Grams. At least I can say with some confidence that she isn't dead."

_Piper_ sighed. "That's something anyway." She looked across the room at a clock in the wall. "I worried about Wyatt."

Janice and Hank both looked at her curious. Paige turned her head to look at her, but like her two younger children, said nothing.

"He's at my restaurant," Piper explained, "pretending to be me."

"He's not cooking is he?" Alanna asked, horrified at the thought.

Hank rolled his eyes heavenward. "Wyatt can cook." Three sets of eyes were on him instantly, making Hank squirm. "Well, he can. I've seen him. I've eaten his cooking."

"You ate something Wyatt cooked?" _Piper_ asked stunned.

Hank nodded. "It was something out of a box and he messed up with the first attempt, but yeah, I've eaten something he made and it tasted good."

_Piper_ shook her head, amused. "Wow. I still don't feel comfortable with him at my restaurant pretending to be me."

Hank shrugged. "Unless you started cooking stuff out of boxes and didn't tell us, I imagine you still have reason to be. He can make dinner for himself, but he's not the cook you are."

"Chris says he burns water."

"Chris also says that Wyatt is in charge of dinner every other night and that they don't always have take-out." Hank grinned. "He doesn't like cooking."

_Piper_ sighed. "I'm not sure what's worse, a son who can't cook or one who won't."

Paige laughed. "Focus, Piper."

_Piper_ sighed. "And it was so nice to _not_ focus on the fact that I look like my husband for a moment there.

Alanna returned to the room just then with the unmarked book her brother had been reading spells from earlier. She sat back down on the couch, this time next to her twin and opened up the book. She looked over her twin at her mom. "Did you only copy specific spells to this or just as much as you could?"

Paige chuckled. "I've had almost twenty years to work on it, Sweetie. That book has every spell, demon, and family history I could find. So I guess, yes, if the Book of Shadows has anything, it should be in there, too."

"Great," Alanna looked over at _Piper_. "So, Aunt Piper, you never saw the demon, right?"

_Piper_ nodded. "That's right."

"Then, we are going to have to put this together using what he did to the four of you." Alanna opened the book and peered down at the image drawn onto the page in her mother's artistic hand. She held out the book for her mother and aunt to see. "This name is familiar. Who is he? A demon?"

Paige and _Piper_ looked at the picture and exchanged glances. Paige sighed and turned to her daughters. "A demon, yes, but not a normal demon. He was only half demon and he's been gone for many years."

"Half demon," Hank spoke up. "Like Seth?"

Paige laughed. "Yes, like Seth, only unlike Seth he was raised as a demon. If you three want, I will tell you about him and some of the other demons in there, but after we get this problem fixed."

"May I see the book?" Piper requested. When Alanna had handed it over to her, she started flipping through. She looked at the pages, hundreds of them, pages she hadn't looked at much in years. This demon was something new to her and this was going to take time, time they didn't know if they had.

* * *

Hope you enjoyed the chapter. For those of you interested in the outcome of Wyatt's interview. That's the next chapter. Either way it's another longer chapter and I thought it was fun, so I hope you guys enjoy it.


	13. To Hire Or Not

First a thank you to my reviewers:

du1387 – Ah, Emily. I remember when I first came up with her. I was reading something on another site and they said something about one of their characters. I thought it was a good idea, so I made Emily. I have since decided not to follow that idea, though I still think it is a good idea. Anyway, I do have a reason for her presence in this story. And no, Piper isn't going to glamour. Hank can do all sorts of whitelighter things, but as you might have noticed, can't seem to access any sort of witch powers. Neither Wyatt nor Chris can glamour, but Alanna and Janice don't realize that. They assume since their mom can and their brother can that anyone part whitelighter with whitelighter powers has that ability. Neither Alanna or Janice has shown any whitelighter abilities, not even orbing. The demon they commented on was Cole, but that is as close to a cameo as we get for him in this episode. I won't tell you how, when, or what state he'll be in (the last time we saw him he was in between life and death in some sort of limbo or some such . . . and I do believe stuck in the manor), but you will get to see him in an episode later on.

gabrieldarke – You're probably right that a son who actually can't cook is worse, 'cause while Wyatt can be a bumble at it most times, he can cook if he puts his mind to it. Not well enough to work for his mom and not well enough to want to. As to Emily, and yes, that's her name, she was surprised, and probably hadn't done enough background work, but she's willing to cook, just not realizing she was going to need to. And yeah, Callie is going to kill someone "figuratively" if they start getting into a lot of emergencies and she has to cover full days in a row. Right now, she's only a little annoyed.

JadeAlmasy – Yep, he's got more to him than meets the eye.

Cirolane – No worries, there will be no two Piper's. Chris can't glamour, and therefore neither can Piper with his powers. And yes, that bugged me too, that they sometimes took so long to figure out it was supernatural with them. They did better in that one episode where Prue had a human stalker and they thought the problem was demonic. Odds where better for the demon angle. Janice is the more logical twin. They kind of match their powers. Janice with her cryokinsis is calm and collected, most of the time. Alanna with her flamethrowing ability is hot tempered and rash when pushed. She hasn't really been pushed yet. As to why they aren't tearing the world apart looking for her, they aren't actually sure she's missing. Now, let me explain. If you go back to "Anti-Orb Zone", I think it's the chapter titled "Cilly", Cilly tells her cousins that her parents are going on a second honeymoon of sorts. So they planned to be gone. They planned to be gone a month. They planned to be somewhere that no one could contact them. They planned this, so while they are anxious to see her and wonder if something's wrong, they aren't sure. Now, Ladybug and Cilly are doing absolutely everything they can to look for them. If nothing else they want Phoebe to know about Prue and family. Hope, is very frustrated, because there isn't much she can do to help and her sisters are insisting that she attend school while they look. Now, while all of this is in the back of my head and more, if you think I should amp it up, I will find some way to do so and still make it (the amping it up) seem natural. I guess when I made the second book here is my thought process in no particular order. In season eight Phoebe copied her favorite and most used spells into a notebook . . . probably not well guarded, this actually is, but that's not really the point. Paige had twenty years to work on this, so over time she copied all of it. In season six we found out that Bianca's mother had a grimoir, so there was more than one of those, one not books of shadows. This has the things from the book of shadows, but there still is a special something to the original. Still working on what, but this is a copy only. Does that make any sense? This was made, as stated in the first chapter at Paige's house, to allow Alanna and Janice access to the spells in the book, so they could study and learn them since they can't orb to the manor. If you don't think that works, please, PM me and help me figure out a way to change it without rewriting this story. And yes, I imagine Grams isn't pleased about it. Yes, something is happening, and it's a relief. This chapter is the last one at The Manor and then Wyatt's heading over to Paige's. Much fun as this has been, I'll be glad to have him working on the problem rather than the interview.

piperspeanut – Yeah, I thought it was funny to have Wyatt called Ma'am, too. Mrs. Halliwell is amusing to hear when referring to him, too. Actually, there's nothing to tell about Chris' glamouring. He doesn't have any. They are just guessing because Hank and Paige can. Neither Chris nor Wyatt can. And since he can't, he hasn't used it. There's nothing to use. I have reasons behind why neither of them can glamour. I think half of them start with my friend Es . . . another author of Charmed fanfiction.

Hope that answered everyone's questions. I'm sure you wanted to read all of that. And if you are anything like me you probably did and maybe even went "huh?" trying to figure out what on earth the questions and comments were I was responding to. You might have checked. I did that once . . . It wasn't worth it. Of course, I was dealing with shorter responses.

Well, I hope you enjoy this chapter and let me know what you think of the outcome.

Remember when you read it that when it says _Wyatt_ it means Wyatt, but he looks like Piper.

* * *

Chapter Twelve – To Hire Or Not

Back at The Manor, _Wyatt_ looked toward the door swinging closed behind Emily, before turning to Callie. "What do you think?"

Callie shrugged. "It's your decision, Mrs. Halliwell."

_Yeah_, _Wyatt_ retorted mentally. _As far as advise goes that's no good._ Trying to come up with a better way to respond he said, "Yes, I know, but I'd like your opinion."

"She seemed pleasant enough," Callie offered. "She can make a grilled cheese sandwich, though I still can't believe that's what you had her make."

_Yeah, yeah,_ he scoffed. _I know, but do you think Mom would hire her?_

"I can't really say if you should hire her," Callie continued, not knowing what he was thinking.

_Fine don't help_, he thought frustrated. _I hope I make the right decision._ "Thank you. I'd better go back in there."

Callie looked at him for a moment. A strange look crossed her face as she said, "Tell me when she's going to start."

"Huh?" _Wyatt_ had no idea what to make of that statement.

"I recognize that look," she informed him. "You're planning on hiring her.

_I am? Wyatt_ thought skeptically. _'Cause I hadn't decided that yet._

"You had that exact same look when you hired Chelsea last year."

_Who? Wyatt _thought, even more confused at the unfamiliar name. Still all he said was, "I see," and then he headed into the dining room in search of better advice. He walked right past Emily and into the entry hall and stopped at the hostess booth. "Who is Chelsea?"

Drinka blinked and looked at him. "Excuse me?"

"I asked Callie advice," _Wyatt_ informed her, "and she said I looked like I did when I hired Chelsea. Who's Chelsea?"

"One of our waitresses," Drinka relented. "She's on maternity leave right now. She should be back in about three weeks."

_Wyatt_ frowned. "How come I don't recognize the name?"

"She works mornings when you are usually working yourself," Drinka explained. "Speaking of which is Piper at your job or were you off today?"

"No such luck as a day off," _Wyatt_ lamented," but it's Chris who's there, not Mom."

"I see," Drinka replied slowly, though she was becoming more and more lost.

"Can you give me some advice on this girl, Drinka?" _Wyatt_ pleaded. "I want to make a decision Mom would."

"I only saw her for a moment," Drinka reminded him, "so I can't advise you on her, but you know what you mom looks for. You most likely either know or have a good idea if this girl has the qualities your mom wants."

He nodded, realizing that he did know this.

"Then, you know if you should hire her or not," she informed him.

He smiled a little. "Thanks, Drinka."

"No problem, Mr. Halliwell."

He turned around, now almost sure what to do. He walked back into the main dining room, thinking, _Mom's right. We do think of Drinka as more than just a hostess._ He walked over to the table where Emily was sitting, but remained standing. _Please be the right decision_. "Hi."

Emily smiled. "Hi. Do you have any more questions?"

"Just one," he told her, hoping it was the right one. Since Emily just waited, he asked, "If I hire you, when would you be able to start?"

She grinned at that. "Tonight unless I have trouble getting the clothes I need for a uniform."

_Impressive_, he thought as he processed that. "Well, I certainly wouldn't ask someone to start on the same day a hired, but if you would like I'll have you come in tonight to follow around one of our waiters or waitresses to see if you can do the job."

"I have the job?" Emily asked as she stood.

"A one week trial," _Wyatt_ informed her. He figured that would give them enough time to fix this problem and give his mom enough time to decide for herself. "You will be paid, of course, and you will need to dress appropriately, but unless you cannot do it, then yes, you have the job."

Emily grasped his hand and shook it. "Oh, I can. Thank you. You won't regret this."

_Let's hope now_, he thought as he let go of her hand. _At least she didn't think the trial weird._ He knew his mom would. He picked up the papers off the table and pulled one out. He handed it to Emily. "This will tell what you need to have tonight and some basic rules. If there is a problem getting anything call and leave a message for me. You'll get more information when you arrive tonight.

Emily nodded as she took the paper and looked at it.

_Wyatt_ eyed her. "Are you sure you want to start tonight?"

"Yes," she nodded. "Thank you."

"All right," _Wyatt_ relented, "will seven o'clock work?" When she nodded, he informed her that, "I don't know if I will be in tonight, as I have some family things to take care of, but if I am I'll see you then." _Or hopefully Mom will._ He walked away in the direction of the kitchen thinking, _Now to put this stuff away, tell Callie that's she's right, and get out of here._

* * *

Did you think Wyatt made the right choice and what do you think Piper is going to do when she finds out?

This next chapter is over to Leo at Centennial. My favorite line in the next chapter is one of Leo's thoughts see if you can figure out which one.


	14. Tricky Lady

First a thank you to my reviews:

piperspeanut – I'm not one hundred percent sure what she will say either. I thought I was, but this story is not going where I thought it would, so who knows what will happen.

FirePony16 – I hope that it was. It seemed like the thing that would make sense.

du1387 – Yes, they were both quite unhelpful. Drinka slightly more than Callie, because she knew who she was talking to, but still not much help. All she did was tell him to think about what his mom would do. And yes, Alanna and Janice are quite ignorant. With magic not being available, even the magic that was available wasn't much discussed. The twins know that they can't do any whitelighter things and know that their brother can do any whitelighter things they could come up with. They know their cousins can orb, but that's about it. They have some knowledge of spells and are having a blast learning their powers, but they don't know a whole lot about what any of their cousins can do.

JadeAlmasy – I hope that I did that right. Piper will get her chance to decide for herself, but we'll see how she responds to that idea. After all she did give Wyatt free reign to hire if he thought she would work out.

TaintedDarkInuShemeeko – We'll have to see how that goes. I know the ultimate result, but I don't quite know how Piper will react. I know how Chris will . . . he'll tease his brother.

I hope everyone enjoys the next chapter. You finally get another chance to see what Leo is up to. Most of the next few chapters will be back and forth between Leo and Chris. The story started careening out of my control about two chapters from here and there have been casualties. No deaths, so far, but injuries.

I have a favorite line in this chapter. Anyone want to guess what line that is?

Remember, Leo looks like Chris and has Wyatt's powers. Not that the powers are going to come into play in this chapter . . . later, but not here.

* * *

Chapter Thirteen – Tricky Lady

_Leo_ had been doing a fairly good job of keeping people from being suspicious and of doing Chris job. It had been a busy morning, so keeping occupied had been a fairly easy task. As his son left The Manor, _Leo_ was talking to a customer, a woman who seemed to be trying cause trouble.

Jody had been running one of the cash registers all morning, but when she finished with the customer she was on, she walked over to _Leo_ and offered a quarried look at the woman _Leo_ was helping. "Mrs. McGrath, are you giving Chris a hard time?"

"Would I do that?" the customer, Mrs. McGrath, sounded more amused than annoyed. "Really now, girl. Didn't your mama teach you better than that?"

_Leo_ looked between the two women. _Is she a regular or someone Jody knows?_

As if to answer his question, Jody introduced them. "Chris, this is my neighbor, Adela McGrath. She likes to come in and play pranks on my coworkers. What was she asking for?"

"Something that hasn't been made in a while," _Leo_ informed her. Mentally he added, _Something that hasn't been made since my mother was a little girl._

Jody gave Mrs. McGrath a look. "Quit messing with him. He may not be his self today, but this guy is one of my bosses. He could get me in trouble." She pursed her lips and gave a good impression of a pouty child right down to the high pitched tone of her voice as she said, "Please, Mrs. McGrath."

Mrs. McGrath laughed. "All right. I'll leave this one alone."

Jody grinned. "Great. Is there anything you actually want, Mrs. McGrath?"

Mrs. McGrath shook her head. She smiled as she walked away.

Jody turned her attention back to _Leo_. "So you have been acting kind odd lately. Today, yes, but for over a month. Is everything okay?"

_How do you answer that?_ He thought as he looked at the young woman in front of him. _Obviously this is about more than just today._

"Come on, Chris," Jody looked at him searchingly. "You've more or less turned over responsibility to David most of the time. That's not like you. Or it wasn't before New Year's. Did something happen then?"

_This is something that my son is going to have to deal with. If he hasn't been doing his job, I can't fix that._ Not sure what to say, _Leo_ looked at her and said, "I can't give you the answers you want, Jody." _I don't know them._ He was relieved at the site of a customer approaching the register. It was time to get back to work.

* * *

As I said above the next few chapters are mostly back and forth between Leo and Chris. This next one is Chris at Wyatt's office and is called "Lunchtime".

Anyone wanting to read more, my site has through chapter seventeen posted for members to read. I finished chapter eighteen, but it's not on the computer yet. If I get a lot of reviews by the time I get off work tomorrow, I'll post after work tomorrow, otherwise, I'll wait a while, because at the moment, my pen is what seems to be working the best, not my posting. As long as this story is coming I need to work on it.


	15. Lunchtime

First a thank you to my patient reviewers:

FirePony16 – That is one of the problems I had. I never could really figure that out. Basically though, he is assistant manager of Centennial, which is some sort of department store. He helps with cash registers as needed, does a lot of paperwork (which is why he gets away with being in his office a lot), and makes sure that people are doing their job. I'm sure he does other things as well, but I've never done more at a department store then help with inventory, which I now help with on a bimonthly basis at the restaurant I work at. It's a bit busy at Centennial during this episode, so that's why Leo is at the registers.

piperspeanut – Yeah, I thought she was odd, too. I'm not sure where she came from. It was _not_ what I thought was going to happen in that chapter.

JadeAlmasy – It's not so much that he was tricked by her. He figured she was playing some sort of joke, but he hadn't figured out how to get out of the situation yet. He hadn't been talking to her for that long before Jody came over to help, because Jody knew her neighbor and figured she was up to mischief.

du1387 – Yes, when they have time, Leo is going to have a talk with Chris about his job.

TaintedDarkInuShemeeko – Glad you enjoyed the chapter. It wasn't what I expected, but it came out all right.

harryandjamesluvr – Yeah, sorry that the chapters are so short. Sometimes I get chapters that are a lot longer, but at the moment with all the bouncing around unfortunately a lot of them are short. There are some longer chapters coming up. As to what's wrong with Chris job. He's getting distracted a lot and he no longer cares about his reason for getting the job. He's more interested in finding out what's going on with the magical world and prevented the next attack.

Remember when it says _Chris_, Nathan is really seeing Wyatt.

* * *

Chapter Fourteen – Lunchtime

It had been an enlightening morning for _Chris_. So far he hadn't had to deal with too many people. He'd learned a lot about Wyatt's job, enough to know he did not want to do this forever. Some of the things he didn't like about Centennial where things Wyatt enjoyed doing. As a result, these were things he had to deal with. He had been looking at a set of papers for over half an hour, puzzling over them. Try as he might, the numbers refused to add up. He didn't know if it was something he did or if it was actually the numbers.

A knock on the door was a welcome relief, even if it meant having to pretend, again. "Come in."

The door opened and Nathan entered. "You still in here."

_Chris_ just nodded. _Am I not supposed to be?_

"Have you looked at the clock?" Nathan asked a bit curious. "Lunch is half over all ready."

_They have set lunch breaks?_ They sure didn't at Centennial. Apparently there was something to be said for this place.

Nathan stared at him for several seconds. When he spoke it wasn't at all what _Chris_ expected him to say. "Who are you?"

"What?" _Chris_ asked, stunned. _Does he somehow know?_

"You heard me," Nathan stated. "You are not acting at all like yourself, Wyatt. What's going on?"

_Chris_ frowned. _What on earth do I say?_ "What if I told you that I wasn't Wyatt?" _Chris_ replayed the words in his head and sighed. _In for a penny . . ._ "What if I told you I was his little brother somehow in his body?" _Hopefully he thinks I'm crazy._ "What would you say then? Would you believe me?"

Nathan frowned and shook his head, slowly. "No, that doesn't make sense. I've met Chris. You don't look anything like him. But then, I guess you did say somehow in Wyatt's body, so I'll go with that can't happen. People can't change bodies. It just doesn't happen."

_Well, it isn't exactly normal for me either, Chris_ thought silently.

"Too bad it's impossible," Nathan commented. "It would explain everything." He laughed. "So are you coming down to eat or not?"

_Chris_ grinned. "Yeah. Lunch sounds good."

* * *

Sorry that it's still really short. The next chapter is longer, not a whole lot, but it's longer. Also the next chapter something actually gets done toward finding this demon.


	16. Identification

First a thank you to my reviewers:

stillcharmedandkicking – I apologize for these chapters being so short. I have been struggling with this story and only in the last week or two, with chapters that are not yet posted, have I been able to get this story going smoothly. There is a point to this; at least two of them, at present that are not quite as evident, but will be eventually. You are right that it makes more sense for them to call in. Unfortunately, five or six months ago, this was not so evident to me, and I had reason for at least one of them going to work. At this point all three of them have some sort of point for being there, but how obvious those points will be I am not sure, because with some of it, I want to be subtle. I am sorry that you are frustrated, and I understand, because I've been there with this story, too. I was working on it earlier today, and I'm not really that frustrated anymore. I am seeing this story and I am seeing how things are going to work out. I am working on chapter twenty-two right now and at this moment only my beta has seen chapters nineteen and twenty. Seventeen and eighteen, where the action really starts, are posted on my site. I will be posting sixteen right after I post this. Hopefully, those will be a lot less frustrating. And thank you for your comments. They help.

piperspeanut – It was the only way I could make that whole thing fit how I wanted it. Well, I suppose he could have said nothing. It will come up, again, in another episode.

FirePony16 – This chapter is longer. The next one is a lot longer and I will be posting that sometime today, after this one. Hopefully someone will have posted a review for this one, but I just want to get some chapters posted. I sure wish school was still my job. I'm stressed at the moment about that, my job that is.

* * *

Chapter Fifteen – Identification

When the doorbell rang, Hank excused himself and headed to the front door. He pulled open the door and chuckled at the sight of his cousin. As weird as it was to see his aunt in the body of his uncle, it amused him even more seeing his cousin in his aunt's body. "Hi, Wyatt. Come in."

_Wyatt_ entered the house with a wry smile on his face. "You don't know how good it feels to hear my own name," he began checking himself at the sound his mother's voice, "even if I still don't hear my own voice."

Hank smiled warmly as he closed the door behind _Wyatt_. "Come on. Our moms and my sisters are in the living room. It will be nice to have another guy in there." He grinned even broadly. "Even if that guy does look like a woman."

_Wyatt_ reached out his hand and smacked his cousin.

Hank laughed. "How was Aunt Piper's interview?"

"I managed," _Wyatt_ informed him as they walked down the hall.

"Did you hire someone?"

Not the question he wanted to answer. "Sort of. Can we change the subject?"

Unfortunately Hank wasn't ready to get off the subject. "How do you sort of hire someone?"

"Trust me," _Wyatt_ confided. "It's possible."

When they reached the living room, Hank entered in front of _Wyatt_ and stepped out of the way. He walked over to where his sisters were sitting and sat down.

_Wyatt_ gave his mom a tentative smile. "Hi, Mom."

"This kind of mirror I could do without," _Piper_ commented. "How'd it go?"

"I'll tell you later," he told her as he walked over to look at the book Alanna and Janice were perusing. "What's this?"

"The workings of a deranged artist," _Piper_ teased.

_Wyatt_ frowned and turned his questioning gaze toward his aunt.

Paige gave her sister a shove. "Be nice, Piper."

"Have you learned anything useful?"

_Piper_ sighed. "Not much. We are still trying to give a name to this demon."

"Wait!" Paige exclaimed, startling everyone. "Alanna, turn that page back."

Alanna shrugged and turned the page back and looked at the two images on the pages. Neither name sounded anything like what they were looking for. "I don't get it."

"Alanna, read the last paragraph on the first page."

"All right." She traced the page with her finger until she reached that paragraph and then she began reading. "This demon was said to get to his victims using the aid of another demon called a Sjelmikser. There is not much known about the Sjelmikser or Soul Mixer because once he attacks he never comes back. They appear to only have interest in causing confusion by switching around the bodies and powers of their victims, making them vulnerable to attack. Other demons such as this one then come in and attack before the victim can learn how to function as someone else." Alanna looked up at her mother. "How did you know?"

Paige smiled. "Honey, everyone word and image in that book, I copied into there by hand. I may not remember immediately, but I know that book."

_Wyatt_ turned to _Piper_, a big grin on his face. "We've got our demon. Now, let's find out how to reverse what he did."

* * *

They've got a name for their demon now . . . but they don't know what they need to know or why the demon chose now to attack.


	17. Ask Leo

First a thank you to my reviewer:

Cirolane – There is more action to come on more fronts though not really in this next chapter. The action starts in the chapter after this, which if you review I will post for you a soon as I notice, which will be within a half hour most likely if you review in the next six or so hours. Otherwise, I'll wait. Yes, I did that on purpose. Not so much the language, but the meaning. I figure out what I want the name to mean and I try and find that name in another language, taking whichever version I think sounds best.

TaintedDarkInuShemeeko - Not a problem. Nathan isn't ready to believe in magic, so having someone suggest it . . . he's not ready to buy that. Eventually, you will get to see what happens when he's hit over the head with it, because his lack of belief in magic is going to cause a LOT of trouble in an upcoming episode. Names are very helpful. For one, I can quit saying "the demon" once I have revealed the name of a demon. Very very useful. Five episodes of calling Steve "the warlock" because I couldn't figure out his name was a bit annoying to me as an author. Same concept, only shorter term here.

The title of this chapter comes from a play on Phoebe's column "Ask Phoebe". You'll see why.

* * *

Chapter Sixteen – Ask Leo

_Leo_ entered the break room. It had been a long morning and he was glad for the break. It had been a long time since he had felt so busy and he liked the feeling. He needed something more to occupy his time. He enjoyed teaching his nephew, but he wanted to do something that helped people more, maybe like his older son he could volunteer at the hospital, use some of the skills learned both in med school and on the battlefield a lifetime ago. He'd once wanted to be a doctor, but he'd gotten off that track, so very far off that track. Was one hundred and two, nearly one hundred and three too old to go back to back to medical school? He laughed at the thought, but it lingered in his mind. Did he dare?

"Chris?"

_Leo_ looked up surprised. He realized that he wasn't alone in the break room. One of the young ladies his son worked with was sitting curled up on one of the chairs sipping some coffee. "How are you doing?" Rose. He wasn't sure, but he thought that was her name.

"I'm fine," she assured him, but her voice was unsteady.

"Are you sure?" he asked, sure he was right.

Rose laughed nervously. "Yeah. I just . . . I have something to decide. It's important so I don't want to decide wrong." She shrugged. "But you've never been unsure of your decisions, have you?"

"I think everyone is at some point or another," _Leo_ told her. "Some just hide it better than others. Can I help?"

She sighed. "I don't know. It's just . . . David."

_David? The guy who works here?_ He looked at her puzzled. "Do you want to talk about it?"

Rose laughed slightly. "Yeah, maybe. I don't know what to do. Jody just tells me forget the whole thing and Brian says he doesn't know any of us well enough to venture an opinion. I don't trust anyone else at work enough to even ask. And you're David's friend . . . or closer to him that anyone else at work. Promise you won't just side with David."

_I hardly know the guy,_ he thought as he nodded. "That I can promise."

Her smile brightened and she climbed off her chair to get some coffee. Her back was to him as she talked. "You know that we've been dating a couple of months now. And I've known him since he started working here last year, of course."

_Leo_ didn't know that, of course, but he wasn't about to mention it. Chances were high that Chris did know these facts.

She turned around and lifted the cup to her lips. When she had taken a sip she said, "There were some problems in my apartment, and I have to wait a month before I can move back in. Since it's my landlord's fault, I'm not being charged. I stayed with my sister for the last two nights, but she's got a two bedroom apartment, a husband, three kids, and a parakeet. It's kind of cramped and noisy. The baby's just two months old and he doesn't sleep the night. And the twins are only two. They don't always sleep the night through. I can't go on staying there, not for a whole month."

_She talks too much_, he stared at her, not sure where any of this was going.

She didn't seem to notice his silence as she kept on talking. Apparently once she started, she just kept on going. "I mentioned this to David last night. And that was after only one night at my sisters. He suggested I move in with him, for the month or longer if I wish." She sighed as she sat back down. "I'm not ready for longer, but I don't know if it's wise to even move in with him for a month. Jody thinks I should just tell him to forget it, but I like him. I really do, Chris. What do you think?"

_What do I think?_ He considered this. "Is there a third option?"

"Not at present," she mumbled before taking another sip of coffee. "My landlord just told me and the others in that particular building to find places to stay for the month while he gets it fixed."

"What exactly happened to your apartment, anyway?"

She grimaced. "Someone rather annoyed at my landlord decided to destroy his property. Windows, doors, walls. He managed to make it through all four apartments in my building before someone called the cops and he was stopped."

"Didn't anyone notice the noise of breaking windows?" _Leo_ asked trying to keep amusement out of his voice. He really shouldn't be amused.

She shrugged. "One of my neighbors has been known to break windows on numerous occasions. People gotten deadened to the sound of breaking glass. The vandal was actually rather careful only to ruin things owned by the landlord, so the tenants' property was unharmed. I didn't lose anything, but I have no place to live. So it's my sister's or David's."

"What about Jody?"

She frowned up at him. "What about Jody?"

"Can you stay with her for a month?"

Rose laughed. "We'd probably drive each other mad after a week. She's rather bad about keeping roommates. I think she's without one right now." She sighed. "Still I don't think I should be suggesting such a thing."

"She doesn't think you should live with David. See if she's willing to offer an alternative, because from the way you talk I don't think you want to live with him either."

"Perhaps not. I just . . . I don't know that it would all that good for our relationship."

He looked at her surprised. "How's that?"

She shrugged. "I read. Stats say that couples who live together are a lot more likely to end a marriage in divorce if they even get that far. I'd really rather not put a handicap on this relationship before it's even had a chance."

He'd lived with Piper before marrying her. And while they had plenty of problems, that hadn't even come into the equation. "I see."

She laughed a little. "You don't do you."

He said nothing.

She smiled. "That's okay. You helped. I hadn't thought of asking Jody, but I imagine I'd get more sleep living with her for the month that I am with my sister. And if she's no, I'll think of something else. Thank you." She smiled as she put her mug in the sink and headed out of the room, leaving _Leo_ unsure what to think of the whole encounter.

* * *

The things I learn about my characters when I let them ramble. I think I know why Rose hasn't been around much . . . she talks to much. I found out she has a married sister who has three kids and a parakeet.

Something is about to happen, something that will have both Leo and Chris scrambling. Halliwells don't like hospitals . . . especially when they are in some else's body. The next chapter is called "Breakables."


	18. Breakables

First a thank you to my reviewer:

Cirolane – She can be a little absent minded at times. Usually when I let my characters ramble like this, it doesn't get into the story, but it seemed to be in character for her. This next chapter definitely has action.

* * *

Chapter Seventeen – Breakables

_Chris_ headed back to Wyatt's office with a smile on his face. His brother had some interesting friends. And it was clear that they were his brother's friends, something he couldn't really claim about his own co-workers. He'd been teased about working through lunch and he wondered where Wyatt was. His brother would have known when lunch was.

As he walked he didn't notice shimmering behind him in the empty hall until he heard a crash. He swung around and a saw a pedestal coming at him. His eyes blinked closed and if he'd had his own powers, he would have panic orbed. There wasn't time to think before the pedestal slammed into him, throwing him to the floor.

As he was trying to get up another crash was all the warning he got of a second pedestal slamming into him. Pain throbbed through him has he pushed himself against the wall and swung out his arm. Nothing happened.

_Right. No powers._ He winced in pain. _But Dad had powers. Whitelighter powers._ Another crash distracted him and he waved his hands in front of him trying to protect his face from the newest projectile. And nothing happened.

After several seconds his body started to relax. He opened his eyes and dropped his hands. His eyes widened as he saw the pedestal about a foot from his face, unmoving in mid-air.

He scrambled out of the way, almost screaming in pain as his right leg moved. He ignored it and tried to stand. _Mom's power_. His leg buckled and the thought was lost.

The freeze broke and the pedestal hit the wall. _Chris_ stumbled against the wall, his right leg refusing to support him as the demon raised a hand and another of the decorative vases that lined the hall crashed to the ground. The pedestal it was on came careening at _Chris_ and he waved his hands. The scene in front of him froze.

_Okay, Mom, if I have your powers then how do I blow something up?_ He looked down at his hands as memories flooded through his mind, memories of another life.

* * *

_Chris orbed into the manor and started talking to the three women in front of him, not even noticing the three women at his side. "You wouldn't happen to know any gremlins would you?"_

_In front of him the three blondes postured. Next to him, though, the three women sighed in relief. "Ah, it's about time!" exclaimed one with wavy shoulder length reddish-orange hair._

_"Chris, thank God!" exclaimed a second one with sleek brown hair capping her head. "Look at them. Look at them. They're imposters. They stole . . ."_

_"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!" Chris exclaimed, stopping the flow of words from her mouth. "Slow down. Who are you?"_

_"They're witches," said one of the women across from him, the one who he thought was Piper, his mother. "They're the ones that killed that guy across the street."_

_The brunette closest to Chris looked at her with disbelief. And the blonde next to Piper, his aunt Phoebe, to his mind, grinned before gasping as if the thought had just occurred to her._

_"No, Chris," said the third woman to his side, a woman with long, dark brown hair. "She's lying. Remember this morning when you said something was going to happen to the book? Well, this is it. It's happening now."_

_Phoebe let out a sound of disgust. "Enough of this. Piper blast them."_

_Chris stepped between the two groups of women and looked at the long haired brunette. "How do you know what I said to Piper?"_

_"Because she is Piper," the red head told him. "And I'm Paige. And this is Phoebe." She didn't stop as the short haired brunette waved a hand in greeting. "And they cast an identity spell to make the entire world think they're us."_

_"That's ridiculous," said the third blonde, the one he thought was Paige, but was she? "Everyone knows the Charmed Ones are blonde." She flipped her hair._

_"If your Piper," said the blonde Piper, "then show me your powers. Blast me." She folded her hands in front of her, confident that nothing would happen._

_"I can't," the brunette Piper said, reluctantly. "You stole them."_

_Chris looked at her in disbelief._

_"Okay, so we stole your identities and your powers," the blonde Piper restated, bragging in her voice. "Wow, we must be good." And then she said something very odd. "Definitely worth more than a paragraph."_

_"Oh, yeah," agreed the blonde Paige._

_"It's time to take care of you witches and your delusions," the blonde Piper stated, her voice starting to sound menacing._

_"Wait!" the redheaded Paige called out. "Wait. I can prove that we're telling the truth. I can still orb. I'm half whitelighter."_

_"Okay," Chris agreed easily. "Go for it._

_The redheaded Paige inhaled sharply and closed her eyes, but nothing happened. She tried it a second time, but still nothing._

_"What do you think of my anti-orb spell?" Chris could barely make out one of the blonde sisters whisper._

_"Oh you," came the whispered reply even softer than the first._

_And it made Chris wonder. He shook the thoughts filling his head away and turned back to the blonde sisters. "Go ahead, Piper, blast away."_

_The blonde Piper held out her hand with a flick of her wrist the stained glass windows behind the dark haired sisters shattered._

_"She missed!" the dark haired Phoebe exclaimed. "Chris, when have you ever known Piper to miss?"_

_"Even I'm entitled to a bad day," the blonde Piper offered with a worried shrug when Chris turned to look at her._

_A sound of agreement came out of the blonde Phoebe's mouth and the blonde Paige looked at her sister urgently. "Come on. Try again."_

_The blonde Piper flicked her wrist, again and a potted plant exploded behind the dark haired sisters._

_"Uh, Chris, a little help here," the redheaded Paige requested urgently._

_Chris looked back and forth between the two sets of sisters, no longer sure which one to believe._

_"Oh you know what," the dark haired Piper said, taunting, "she's getting angry and our powers don't work so good when we're angry."_

_"We got them now," the blonde Phoebe encouraged._

_"Yeah," agreed the dark haired Piper, still taunting, "you got us now, so why don't you blow us up?"_

_"Piper," the dark haired Phoebe cringed as she looked at her sister, "death bad, life good."_

_"Don't worry," the redheaded Paige assured her, sounding more confident. "This bimbo couldn't hit the broadside of a beauty parlor. Check out that dye job._

_The three blonde sisters exclaimed in different degrees of affront, but it was the blonde Piper who replied, "How dare you!"and with both hands blasted them, causing a bigger explosion than before and the three dark haired sisters to duck and cover._

_Chris stared back and forth between the two sets of sisters, trying to decide what was going on._

_"Run," the dark haired Piper ordered her sisters and they used the confusion and the smoke to exit the room._

_Chris had a lot to think about._

* * *

_Chris_' eyes brightened as he recalled just how the warlock masquerading as his mom had used her power. He flicked his wrists at the scene frozen in front of him. The pedestal headed at him exploded into thousands of pieces as the demon started moving, again.

"You picked the wrong witch to mess with," _Chris_ informed the demon with more bravado then he felt as he flicked his wrists. Annoyance flickered on his face as the demon only flinched. He flicked his wrists, again and again, certain if the demon didn't leave very soon he wouldn't be able to remain standing.

The demon flinched each time and finally scowled at _Chris_. He said nothing as he shimmered away.

_Chris_ relaxed and slid down the wall to a sitting position. He surveyed the mess in front of him and moaned. He closed his eyes and in whispered words he chanted, "Let the object of my objection become but a dream as I cause the scene to become unseen."

Around him the scene shimmered and changed, but _Chris_ didn't notice. He'd lost consciousness.

* * *

For those of you who want to keep them straight, the Stillman sisters are Mabel, Mitzy, and Margo impersonating Piper, Phoebe, and Paige respectively.

I tried to write that scene from more of the viewpoint of Chris since he's the one remembering it, hence why the Stillman sisters are never referred to by name. It is the only time that I came up with off the top of my head where Chris saw that power used, though I am sure there were plenty more. I just can't think of any.


	19. Family Emergency

I can't believe I did that. Here is chapter eighteen. I accidentally skipped it.

* * *

Chapter Eighteen – Family Emergency

Things had slowed down quite a bit at Centennial. Jody was straightening things up. David was helping a customer get a purchase out to her car. _Leo_ was ringing up a rather large purchase.

_Leo_ felt a hand rest on his shoulder. He started to turn his head, but the customer glared at him. It was enough to see Rose standing there with a phone.

"Chris, I'll take over for you," Rose offered. "You need to take this call."

Not sure what else to do, _Leo_ stepped out of the way and took the phone. "Hello?"

"Thank goodness," Nathan said on the other end. "I've been trying to reach any member of your family, but no one seems to be about."

_Leo_ frowned as he walked away from the register. He wasn't even sure whom he was talking to, so he figured he start with that. "I'm sorry. Who is this?"

"Sorry. I told the girl who answered. My name is Nathan. I work with your brother."

_Chris_, _Leo_ realized. "Is something wrong with him?"

"I found him collapsed in the hallway," Nathan informed him. "He woke fairly easily, but I don't think he can stand."

"What happened?" _Leo_ asked, concerned for his son.

"I don't know and he won't let me call an ambulance or a doctor of any sort. Can you talk to him?"

"Yes," _Leo_ agreed without hesitation. "Put him on."

On the other end Nathan the phone down to _Chris_ who was still sitting on the ground in the hall leaning against the wall. _Chris_ reached up and grabbed the phone. "Nathan, would mind letting me talk to him in private?" _It's going to be weird enough hearing my own voice without an audience._

Nathan frowned and nodded.

As Nathan walked away _Chris_ put the phone to his ear and forced himself to imagine the voice he was about to hear was the calming voice of his dad. "Dad?"

Leo nodded as he walked farther away from the register. "Yes, son. What happened?"

"I was on my way back to Wyatt's office when a demon attacked."

"Another demon," _Leo_ groaned. "Or could it be the same one?"

"I don't know," _Chris_ sighed. "I can't stay here any longer, Dad. I think my leg's broken. I can't let a doctor look at it, because I'd be stuck with a cast for weeks . . . or rather Wyatt would be. And what happens if another attack happens and an innocent is in the way. I was lucky this time. No one was there, but what about next time?"

_Leo_ nodded. "You're right. We can't risk innocents. I'll find a way to get out of here and pick you up. Your mom and brother should both be at Paige's house by now and I think it's time we joined them."

"Aunt Paige's?" It didn't feel good to be out of the loop.

"Yeah," _Leo_ agreed with a smile. "That's where I was planning on being today. I've been teaching Hank. Wyatt should be there by now, too."

"What did he do today?"

"I'll tell you what I can after I pick you up. For now how do I get an okay to leave?"

_Chris_ was silent for several seconds. "Talk to David."

"I thought you didn't trust him."

_Chris_ sighed. "I'm not sure what to think. Last year we were friends, but after everything that happened since this year began I've changed. "I admit part of it's my fault. I've let what's going on at home distract me and he's noticed. He's caught me more than once focused on something demon related rather than Centennial related. He threatened to go to the boss with it. I don't know if he was serious or not."

"If you aren't doing your job," Leo offered.

"I know, I know. It's just I don't know if I can trust him about magic and unless I can . . ." he sighed. "Unless I can things will be really strained and eventually something is going to happen. I don't really want that to be on a day I can't handle it personally because I'm in my brother's body."

_Leo_ laughed. "I see what you mean. All right I'll explain that my 'brother' has been injured and can't drive and I have to pick him up to pick him up. Be careful."

"I will. Bye, Dad."

"Bye, Chris," _Leo_ said before hanging up. He wasn't sure where the phone went so he carried it with him as he headed toward the door from which David had just reentered. When he reached David he stopped. "David, I just got a call from the Museum of Natural History where Wyatt works."

David stopped walking and glanced around. After several seconds he asked. "You got a call from the _museum_? Not from Wyatt?"

_Definitely not from Wyatt_. "I talked to him, but no, the call wasn't from him."

"Is everything all right?"

"No. He's injured and refuses to see a doctor, so I need to get him home."

David sighed. "Go. Your brother needs you. Go. We'll be fine here, so just go and I'll see you tomorrow."

_Leo_ smiled his thanks. "I'm sorry."

David shook his head. "No. Don't be. This is your family. Work will be here when you get back. Just go. If something ever happens to my brother, I'd expect the same." He chuckled. "And knowing my little brother, eventually something will. I just hope when it does it isn't too serious."

"I hope not," _Leo_ agreed before he turned around and headed toward the break room after his son's car keys. The museum wasn't that far and it was better not to raise suspicion.


	20. Stubborn As a Halliwell

First a thanks to my reviewers:

FirePony16 – You think that's a lot? You should have seen the posting marathon I had with one of the earlier episodes, I forget which one, but I must have post half a dozen chapters in the space of a couple hours and for the same reason I posted three chapters in a row here. Glad you liked them. Hope you enjoy this new chapter.

Cirolane – I do believe you are the only person I have ever posted as many chapters as I could for, just to see what you responded. Maybe Jana . . . who since she isn't reviewing on a certain other site might want to review here. I think I need to give her an update over there and see what happens. Anyway, I'm glad you thought I did a good job of writing that from Chris' point of view . . . I wonder what you'd think of my rough draft of his thoughts for that entire episode. I did that a couple years ago, but it will be a while before I rewrite it so it looks decent (it's in scriptish format). In Chris defense, between two lifetimes (even if one had no magic for most of it) he's seen her use her powers a lot more than either of her sisters ever did. Grant you he was probably too young to remember some of it. He still has some slightly bumpy spots to come when it comes to using his mom's powers.

lemonroker – And as the plot has taken over the more recent chapters, it should be just as interesting to me as you to see where this goes . . . it's not polite to laugh at demons, Christopher . . . anyway. He didn't really laugh, he just had to tell himself not to more than once. It is a rather funny thought though. I'm working on chapter twenty-one right now. 1400 words and counting. Many of the earlier chapters averaged around 600.

piperspeanut – Don't worry about taking a bit of time to review. I have been working on chapter 21 for several days now. I'll try to get chapter 20 up on my site tomorrow evening. I have a lot of fun with Hank. Each of these kids has something that endears them to me. For Paige's kids, Alanna is a bit hotheaded at times (though not so much today), Janice is her opposite, mellow, cautious, calculated, and Hank's the youngest kid all right, easy going except when it comes to his absent witch abilities.

I am slowly building a list of people who work with Wyatt. I am now up to three or four. The or four is a character named Olivia whom I still need to decide where to put her. Nathan, of course is the main one and only one prior to this chapter. You meet Monica here and you get the name of Wyatt's boss later in chapter twenty.

Since both Leo and Chris are in this chapter, I figured I'd better remind you that Leo is in Chris' body with Wyatt's powers and Chris is in Wyatt's body with Piper's powers . . . not that you need reminding whose powers Chris has after the last chapter. That Leo has Wyatt's powers is important for this chapter. Leo's about to do something he hasn't done in a long time.

* * *

Chapter Nineteen – Stubborn As a Halliwell

_Leo_ followed a young woman through the hall of the museum offices. She stopped in front of an office that said "Nathan Hensley" on the door. "Nathan and Wyatt are in there. I hope you can convince him to go see a doctor. That leg looks bad."

_Leo_ nodded. "I'll keep that in mind. Thanks."

She smiled at him. "Wyatt never mentioned he had such a cute brother. I'm Monica."

_Leo_'s eyes widened. _Is she hitting on me?_

She laughed at the look on his face. "Never mind. Go check on your brother." That said she walked away.

_Leo_ knocked on the door and waited.

The door opened and Nathan shrugged at him from the other side. "He's still being stubborn."

_Leo_ looked across the room at his son sitting on the floor against the wall. One leg was hugged up against his chest while the other was straight out in front of him, or mostly straight. It was slightly bent in a place it should be bent.

_Chris_ looked up at him with a grimace.

_Leo_ glanced at Nathan. "And you expected something other than stubborn?" _My boys come by that trait naturally._

Nathan laughed. "Good point. Now that you're here I'm going to head back to work." To _Chris_ he added, "Be careful Wyatt."

_Chris_ gave a little wave, a wry smile on his face. "I'll do what I can."

_Leo_ closed the door behind Nathan and looked at his son, trying to see the son that was actually there, not the son whose body was there. "Want me to take a look at that leg?"

"No healing while here. I can't have a miraculous recovery."

_Leo_ shook his head. "Chris, even hobbling out of here, all the way to the car would be a ridiculous idea and probably wouldn't work, because I can tell at a glance that isn't a minor injury and most likely is broken as you believe. So either I heal you here or I orb you out and heal you at your Aunt's, because you aren't walking out of here like that. You can't."

_Chris_ nodded. "Okay."

_Leo_ walked over to him and squatted down. He held his hands over _Chris_'s right leg and for the first time in over two decades he felt a familiar warmth fill him as a gold glow emanated from his hands and his son's leg began to heal from the inside out. He stopped before _Chris_' slacks leg could be healed. While he was sure that whichever of his sons actually owned those slacks didn't want his clothes ripped, it would look too suspicious if someone came across them who knew something had happened.

_Leo_ stood up and reached down to offer _Chris_ his hand. "Want some help up?"

_Chris_ nodded. "Thanks."

As soon as _Chris_ was on his feet he sighed. "Let's get out of here. If I get attacked, again, I don't want it to be here." _Chris_ winced as he put his wait on his foot. "It still hurts."

"Could be another injury," _Leo_ suggested. "That one should be fully healed, but I only did a localized healing."

_Chris_ nodded. "That's probably it. Makes it easy to limp at any rate."

_Leo_ chuckled gaining a glare from _Chris_. "Come on. I'll finish up when we get there."

_Chris_ sighed and limped down the hall after his dad. He clocked Wyatt out and said good-bye to the man at the information desk. If anyone asked, they would be told that Wyatt walked out of the building, limping. They walked toward Wyatt's car, but Chris stopped. "No one's around. Let's just get out of here. We can get the cars later."

_Leo_ nodded. They slipped between two cars and ducked down in case anyone happened to see them from a distance. _Leo_ hugged an arm around his son and they orbed out of the parking lot.

* * *

They're on their way home (well, to Paige's house anyway). Now, what happens next? The next chapter is completed, just waiting for me to make sure I use italics ever where I should. Consider I will have everyone there I'd better.


	21. What a Demon Wants

First a thank you to my reviewers:

Cirolane – Yeah, Monica's a bit of a flirt and she doesn't know that he's married with adult kids. She just thinks he's Wyatt's unattached younger brother. And you know Chris, stubborn. And believe me, Wyatt's going to wish Chris put him in a cast for six weeks . . . but that's for another story. And I really wanted to give Leo a chance to heal.

FirePony16 – Yep, they are fun. It's great to check your email and get another note saying that something has been reviewed. And that pretty soon after you update, there's another one. I love it.

TaintedDarkInuShemeeko – Yes, it did feel great for Leo. He misses that. Unfortunately the way things were left on Charmed, I don't see the elders giving him his wings back.

JadeAlmasy – Thank you.

Jana – Well, I already responded to you over there with updates on the site. Got another one over there waiting for you.

piperspeanut – Exactly. I thought it was amusing to let someone hit on Leo. And I really wanted to let him heal someone, so Chris got elected. As to what happens when everyone gets to Paige's, well, here it is.

For anyone who wondered why there was a chapter added and then it was still the previous chapter up last, that's because I goofed. I forgot a chapter. The new chapter is the one listed as 19 – Family Emergency. It's chapter 18, but because of the prologue it's listed as 19, which is also why I messed up. I was in a hurry and only looked at chapter numbers, not titles.

I have completed this story and started in on the next one. I'm working on chapter four of the next episode and chapter one is back from my beta. I will be trying to upload the remaining six chapters of this story during this week and the next one, but if a certain sister goes into labor, you can forget it, because my interest will be otherwise occupied. She's due at the end of the month. Due to having all of these chapters ready, I'm good for posting as many of them as I get quick reviews for. Otherwise, you get updates when I get off work if I have reviews.

Congratulations to my other sister, Stockmon on here, who just graduated high school. She probably will never read this on here, because much as I love her, she just doesn't read that much of my Charmed stuff.

And anyone interested can read through chapter 24 of this story on my site if they are a member, or through 26 on Alternate Charmed if they are a member there. Once I finish posting this story on my site, I will open it to be viewed by everyone. The board for the next story is already ready for uploading chapters of that.

Remember that the names in italics are the people whose minds are their, not whose bodies are. Wyatt is in Piper's body. Leo is in Chris' body. And Chris is in Wyatt's. Piper's not in this chapter, but she's in Leo's body.

* * *

Chapter Twenty – What a Demon Wants

"This doesn't make any sense!" _Wyatt_ exclaimed out of the blue. "Why confuse our powers and not attack?"

"Perhaps they realize it is foolish to attack a group of us," Janice suggested. "After what happened last week, it's possible."

_Wyatt_ shook his head. "No, Most demons don't seem to care." He looked at Hank who was busy studying his mother's book. "Any suggestions?"

Hank didn't respond at first, but after several moments he looked up. "Are you talking to me?"

_Wyatt_ nodded. "Yeah. Our moms are in the kitchen. Alanna's in the den. Janice has already voiced her opinion. That leaves you."

Hank frowned. "I don't know. I was just reading about a demon who injects a slow acting poison into its victims, so it can be far away when others notice. There are other demons like that. They like to inflict pain from a safe distance."

"I've never heard of demons like that."

Hank shrugged. "That's because they don't take credit. They aren't flashy. These are the cowards. The ones you hear about are the ones who stick around, the ones who brag, the ones who get vanquished."

"That makes sense," _Wyatt_ conceded. "Any idea who . . ?" Wyatt started, his voice dying off at the sound of orbing. He stared at what looked like him and Chris appearing within the orbs. "Okay, I completely understand how Mom felt when she saw me," he informed his two cousins.

Hank chuckled. Janice looked at _Leo_ and _Chris_. "So I'm going to guess that the guy who looks like Chris really isn't, which means the guy who looks like Wyatt is Chris."

Hank laughed a little harder. "I think we need to get this fixed so I don't have to look at Chris and call him Uncle Leo."

_Chris_ snorted. He looked across the room at his brother. "Wyatt I take it?"

_Wyatt_ shrugged. "Do I still have a job?"

"Haha," _Chris_ returned dryly. "Your job is secure." His left leg chose them to buckle. He groaned as he fell to his knew. He looked up at _Leo_ and with a weak smile he said, "You said when we got here you'd fix the rest of my injuries."

_Leo_ was already on his knees at his son's side.

_Wyatt_ looked at them both worried. "Okay, my job's fine, but what about you? What happened?"

_Chris_ winced as he moved his ankle wrong. "Demon attack."

"Or there's that," Janice said surprised. "They didn't attack a group, because they attacked an individual."

Hank rolled his eyes. "Don't philosophize. This is our cousin."

"Of course it is," his sister returned. "I was just thinking that if they attacked Chris, maybe now that we are all together they will attack again. They want something."

"Yeah," Hank returned. "They want us dead."

"Not what I meant."

"But it could be the only thing behind this."

"Wyatt, where's your mom?"

_Wyatt_ glanced down at his mom's body, before looking back up at his dad in his brother's body. "She's in the kitchen with Aunt Paige. She wanted to make some potions." He looked at his brother in his body. "Chris, since you've seen a demon involved in some way, maybe you can give them something to go on."

"It used telekinesis," _Chris_ told him, "and it can freeze."

_Wyatt_ frowned. "I beg your pardon?"

_Chris_ laughed. "I mean it can be frozen. That's a pretty cool power Mom has."

_Wyatt_ groaned. "You have Mom's powers?"

_Chris_ stood still and looked at him. His finger's wiggled in front of him and his lips moved as if he was silently counting something. His lips formed an "O" and he met his brother's eyes. "You switched powers with Dad didn't you?"

_Wyatt_ wrinkled his nose at him. "Yes. I have no powers and it's frustrating."

"I bet," _Chris_ agreed easily, "but I think Dad is enjoying having powers, again."

_Wyatt_ sighed. "Yeah, but that doesn't mean I don't want them back."

"Is there anything else you can tell us about the demon who attacked you?" Janice asked, ever practical.

"He didn't care for expensive looking vase like things," _Chris_ retorted.

_Wyatt_ grimaced. "Hal's going to kill someone."

_Chris_ gave him a curious look.

"If you are talking about what I think you are talking about," _Wyatt_ explained, "and they are broken, my boss is going to be pretty mad. They belonged to his dead mother."

"They're fine," _Chris_ assured him. "No one's quite sure how I managed to injure myself, or yourself. Anyway. The point is the hallway looks just the way it did before, so the jugs or whatever are fine."

"You were right when you said vase," _Wyatt_ informed him. "Not sure they really are expensive, but I think Hal's mom is the one who actually painted them. He's kind of freaky obsessive when it comes to them."

Janice looked at her brother and tried not to laugh. Hank grinned and shook his head.

"Anything else?" _Wyatt_ asked, trying to change the subject. When _Chris_ shook his head, _Wyatt_ sighed. "Then, why don't you go see if you can help Mom and Aunt Paige."

"Who put you in charge?"

"Chris," the warning coming from his own voice was a quick reminder that now was not the time.

"Sorry, Dad." _Chris_ glanced at his cousins, who both just shrugged, before he headed out of the room and toward the kitchen.

* * *

As said above the next chapter is read to be uploaded. So please let me know what you thought. If there is a problem, I can't fix it unless I know. And it really cheers me to know when I did something right.


	22. Discussion and Annoyance

First a thank you to my reviewers:

JadeAlmasy - Demon attacking. Bodies switched. . . Hey you can't boss me around! *Laugh*

EmmettCullenLuva0506 - Thank you. I'm sorry it is taking so long to update. I can't even claim the next chapter isn't completed. . . The story is completed. And the next one is coming very close to being completed. That however is why I haven't been updating much. That story has been consuming all my writing time.

TaintedDarkInuShemeeko - Wasn't it? I thought that was cute.

piperspeanut - Can you imagine seeing your mirror image and knowing that this was not your identical twin, because you didn't have one? Leo does like having powers again, being able to help, to heal.

Skyla. Nightfox (Sorry for the space. ff interprets your name as a web address) - I'm glad you enjoy them enough to read them all. Of them I feel sorry most for Wyatt as well, wrong gender, it's his _mom_, and he has no powers. Piper not really. As you said, she's done this before and she also is in her _husband's_ body, not as tramatic as a parent.

This chapter is sparked off a comment that one of the readers made and I hope she doesn't mind that this chapter does not come to the same conclusion that she did. I just couldn't see to making it work, but you have Chris on your side.

Remember that Chris is in Wyatt's body with Piper's powers. Remember that. The powers will soon become very important.

Piper is in Leo's body with Chris' powers. This will also be important soon.

Paige is . . . well . . . she's Paige. No one else is in the chapter.

* * *

Chapter Twenty-One – Discussion and Annoyance

_Chris_ entered the kitchen and smirked at the sight of what looked like his dad pouring a liquid into a potion bottle. Even know that this was really his mom, he couldn't help but find the image funny.

He must have made a sound, because both _Piper_ and Paige looked up. _Piper_ stopped pouring and scrutinized him. "Chris?"

He nodded.

"You're early."

He nodded, again. "I got attacked by a demon at Wyatt's work, so Dad got out of work and brought me here."

"Attacked!" _Piper_ looked him over worried.

"I'm okay," _Chris_ assured her. "It's thanks to your powers, Mom."

"My powers? Oh, you got them?"

"Yeah. I was able to freeze the demon who attacked me and I used your exploding power to make him back off."

"Back off only?" Paige asked grabbing a new potion bottle.

_Chris_ nodded. "He was flinching, but didn't explode."

"Did you try looking him up?"

"I haven't been to the manor, so no."

Paige smiled a little. "No. I made a copy of the Book over the years, so my kids could access it."

_Chris_ stared at her. "You copied the Book?"

Paige nodded.

"Are you nuts?! What if demons got a handle on the copy? Wouldn't that be just as bad as getting the original? It is safe? Is it . . ?"

"Wyatt, I mean, Chris, calm down," _Piper_ commanded.

"How can I calm down?" _Chris_ asked, not even noticing the mistake as he stared at his mom and aunt. "Do you have any idea what could has that ever happened? And if not can you at least imagine the catastrophe?"

_Piper_ frowned as a memory filtered through her mind.

* * *

_"Do you realize how serious this is?" Leo asked, warning in his voice._

_Piper frowned and looked at him, confused._

_"You're blinking," Leo reminded them. "The Book is changing."_

_"Maybe we're blinking because of the Book," Piper suggested as Phoebe looked at him with a grin._

_Phoebe looked at Leo eagerly for an answer._

_"The Book is changing because of you," Leo argued. "It is an extension of you."_

_As Phoebe turned back to look at Piper for an answer Piper considered this. "Huh. I should care about that, but I don't." And then they walked away not caring about what Leo was trying to tell them._

* * *

They hadn't had the Book. They'd had Prue, but changing Prue had changed both them and the Book. The Book was connected to them.

"I put a spell on it so it could only be read when a member of our family line was touching it," Paige informed him, defensively.

"That's something at least," _Chris_ agreed grudgingly. "But you can't keep something like that. It's dangerous in the wrong hands," he glared at her, "even if they can't read it."

"Are you saying that mine are the wrong hands?" Paige asked a little indignant.

_Chris_ groaned. "No. I just meant it's hard enough to protect one Book let alone two. Or three. Does Aunt Phoebe have one, too?"

"Just a few spells," Paige informed him.

_Chris_ groaned. "There is a reason there is only one Book and that Book is in the manor."

_Piper_ shook her head. "Chris, there is not only one Book. Other Books may have different spells, may have diverged at various points, because they were written by different people, but there is not only one Book of Shadows. I grant you most of them don't copy the entire original Book," _Piper_ gave Paige an amused look before continuing. "Each Book is connected to those who used it and that is what makes Paige's book really different from the one we have at the manor. Our Book is connected to my mom, to Grams, to Melinda Warren, and to everyone in between. Paige's book is only connected to her and her family. And one day her book will have spells that aren't in ours and ours will do the same."

_Chris_ was silent for several seconds before he sighed. "I still don't like it."

A crash from another room stopped anyone from responding.

* * *

Flashback from "Bride and Gloom".

Once I finish posting this I will go back to trying to vanquish the demon in the next episode, because yes, that's how far I am in that story. I have smooth sailing once I complete the vanquish, because I have parts of the remaining chapters written and I know almost exactly what should happen in them. Ava will finally make an appearance, though her daughter is not going to appear. I'm just thrilled that Ava showed up. I also have a surprise guest that is going to mess with Piper's head, not that he's trying, but he looks so much like an innocent she lost. I didn't plan him, but he just kind of showed up.

The next chapter is one of the longest in the story and has a bunch of action. I will try to post quicker this time, but tomorrow is my birthday and my sister is coming here with her daughter who was born six days ago (seven when I see them). We have a lot of birthdays over a short period of time. One sister. Two weeks later my baby niece. The next day my other sister. Six days later me. No more birthdays for a couple of months. Hope you enjoyed the chapter. Please let me know, even if you didn't.


	23. Chris’ Attacker Revealed

First a thank you to my reviewers:

FirePony16 – You got an account. :) That's cool. It's okay that you missed out on the last chapter. Though I like as many reviews as possible, it's mostly so I can tell people are enjoying what I write.

Skyla. Nightfox – Hmm. For some reason I think I found that part funny too. It's so beyond odd behavior for Piper and the ice power was cool. The demon from "Brain Drain"? You mean the Source of All Evil? Or do you mean the demon at the beginning who was a shapeshifter or some such? And you would be correct about who the girl is that Chris killed in "Imaginary Fiends (and Real Friends). It is Aka.

Anym. – Thank you. I try to keep in mind who would act how. I'm sure I fail at times, but I'm glad you think I did a good job here.

JadeAlmasy – Thank you. We sure do have a lot of us these past few weeks.

Cirolane – I figured as much. And yeah in a few generations they might not be in very much contact anymore. Like Pansy from "Anti-Orb Zone". Her mother is Wyatt and Chris' fifth cousin. Thanks to a game on my site I have now have a great-great-granddaughter for Paige. Her name is Lily. I believe her mom's name is Ana. I have no clue what her mom's name is, but Ana is Janice's granddaughter and I know Janice has twin daughters (this comes up in my eventual season five). Yeah, Paige was a bit offended by what he was saying. And you're right, it does sound a lot like how he was in season six.

TaintedDarkInuShemeeko – Glad you enjoyed it. And I enjoy finding flashbacks that fit in with what I am doing. For the next episode "Astral Monkey" is the episode to know . . . that and "The Eyes Have It", but there are no flashbacks from "The Eyes Have It". "Astral Monkey" plays an important part in the eventual outcome of that story . . . because yes, I finished it. That's what has been keeping me away from posting here, writing that story.

lizardmomma – He did indeed get offensive about it. Nice to see you here.

Thank you to everyone who wished me Happy Birthday. I had a good day and got to hold me niece. She's a bit little to play with much.

For anyone who ever said that an early chapter was short (which many of them were), enjoy. This is the second longest chapter in this story.

As I said in the last chapter this is the one you need to be able to keep track of powers and not just bodies.

Leo is in Chris' body with Wyatt's powers.  
Piper is in Leo's body with Chris' powers.  
Wyatt is in Piper's body with Leo's lack of powers.  
Chris is in Wyatt's body with Piper's powers.

And for an added bonus . . . what in this chapter tells you the answer to Hank's question about if he is a witch or not?

* * *

Chapter Twenty-Two – Chris' Attacker Revealed

The scene that greeted _Chris_, _Piper_, and Paige was a mess. Janice was on the ground, rolling over, trying to get up. Hank was orbing, possibly after panic orbing. _Leo_ had raised Wyatt's blue shield around him. And _Wyatt_ was flush against the wall, his arms straight at his sides, gritting and furious.

"I want my powers back!" Wyatt yelled as Alanna reentered the room from the den.

Alanna took in the scene and spotted her family's book of shadows opened and upside down on the floor. "Enchant!" She yelled and the book vanished.

_Chris_ waved his arm at the demon in the center of the room before Alanna even stopped speaking. When nothing happened he groaned. _Right. Mom's powers_. He waved his hands up and down and parts of the scene froze, namely the demon and _Wyatt_.

"Wyatt froze?" Paige looked surprised.

"He doesn't have his powers," _Piper_ reminded her. "Leo does, so I guess he's not a witch right now."

Hank looked at her curious.

_Leo_ frowned at the image of his son, who looked like his wife, frozen against the wall. "Unfreeze him, Chris."

"How?" _Chris_ asked, unsure. "I don't know how to do that."

"So Wyatt's frozen because without his powers, he's not a witch," Hank asked, tension visibly struggling in his body for anyone who cared to look as he struggled with the question so prevalent on his mind for almost two months. Was he a witch? And if so why couldn't he cast spells? Why didn't he have a power?

Behind him, Janice scrambled to her feet.

"Yeah," _Chris_ agreed, concurring with what his mom had said a moment before. "But it won't last long. Freezes never do."

"So the fact that Uncle Leo," Hank looked at _Leo_ briefly before looking back at _Chris_, "isn't frozen means he's currently a witch."

_Chris_ nodded. "Yeah. Basically. I mean it's either that or certain types of upper level demons, but this is Dad. And he has Wyatt's powers, so that would actually . . ."

"Chris!" _Piper_ exclaimed. "Focus. Unfreeze your brother."

"How?!" _Chris_ questioned, exasperated.

"The same way you freeze, but focus on Wyatt and aim your hands at him."

_Chris_ sighed and tried to do that, but before he could _Wyatt_ and the demon both unfroze, so _Chris_ focused on the demon instead and froze him.

_Wyatt_ felt the pressure on his body lift and he was able to move away from the wall. He looked around the room and frowned. "Was I frozen?" His voice, or rather his mother's as it truly was, sounded stunned, in disbelief.

Unnoticed, Alanna slipped back out of the room.

"Sorry," his brother apologized. _Chris_ turned his head back to _Piper_. "What now?"

"Unfreeze his head," _Piper_ ordered him. "I want to talk to him."

_Chris_ blinked at her, unsure he heard right. "Unfreeze his head? Is that possible?"

_Piper_ nodded. "Yep. I remember Prue suggesting that after we summoned the wrong demon and wanted to know why. You can do it."

"Focus again? On his head?" When _Piper_ nodded, he turned to face the demon. He closed his eyes briefly, and when he opened them he waved his hands at the demon. He breathed a sigh of relief as the demon's head unfroze. "Be careful. I'm not sure how his power works."

_Piper_ marched around to look the demon in the eye. "Fix this."

The demon snarled at her and glared.

"You hired that demon," _Piper_ glared right back. "Fix this."

"You can't," snarled, scratchy words informed her.

"I didn't say me," _Piper_ shot back. "You. Fix this."

"Even if I could," the demon replied in that scratchy voice, "why would I?"

"I'll make your death less painful," _Piper_ offered.

The demon sneered at her. "Not interested."

"And it was such a generous offer," Hank whispered to his sister.

Janice shrugged and whispered back, "Coming from Aunt Piper when her family is in danger or whatever you call this situation, that's pretty generous in my book."

"I want to know why you came after us."

The demon snorted. "Why do any of us ever come after you? Because you're in the way. Because you're good witches." He gave her a look of pure malice. "Because killing is fun. Now!"

Everyone looked at him confused until they heard a scream from the back of the room. Get away!"

Hank winced as his sisters scream from a foot away pierced his ear. He ignored it and turned to look at her. "Yikes!"

A tentacle was slowly wrapping its way toward his sister's neck. He waved his hand at it, trying to send it away with one of the only offensive powers in a whitelighter's arsenal.

By that time the others in the room had turned around and the demon had unfrozen. Hank's eyes widened as he saw the first demon's hands rise up and all the light fixtures on the walls started to shake. "Orb! Freeze! Something!"

Janice closed her eyes and pointed her palms behind her at the tentacles coming at her again. Ice flowed out of her hands, encasing the demon in ice.

_Piper_ waved her hands, automatically trying to freeze the room. She glared at her hands in frustration and turned to look for her son. "Chris!"

_Chris_ nodded as he waved his hands, mimic the motion his mom had just made. The demon and _Wyatt_ froze, again. He turned to his brother and focused his attention on him and waved his hands, again.

_Wyatt_ resumed moving and sighed. "I was frozen, again, wasn't I?"

_Chris_ shrugged. "Sorry."

_Wyatt_ scowled and looked at the ice encased demon behind Janice, just as Alanna raced back into the room. "Where were you?"

"Me?" Alanna looked surprised. "Research. I was researching. Couldn't leave the book here, so I sent it back to its home. Means I couldn't use it. I got something though . . ." she glanced at the second demon behind her sister, "at least about the first demon. He'd called Tachotered. He breaks stuff."

_Chris_ stared at her for a couple of seconds and burst out laughing. "I hope you have more than that."

Alanna raised her hand up, a piece of paper fluttering in the air as she waved it. "I've got a vanquishing spell."

"Sounds good," Janice told her as she stood and walked away from the demonic icicle. "Care to see if you can make that thing go away?"

"I wouldn't," _Chris_ warned before Alanna could take more than a step. After she gave him a questioning look he added, "One thing at a time. You don't know that will work."

"I don't know it won't," she countered. She lifted her hands, but instead of aiming at the tentacle demon, she aimed at the hands of Tachotered. Fine streamed out of her hands and before the stunned eyes of her family Tachotered's hands and arms melted away like wax. She grinned up at them. "I can't vanquish him, but I can render him powerless. Not harmless and he can still shimmer, but he can't use his other more dangerous power."

Time resumed and Tachotered's eyes widened and he started screaming. _Chris_ turned around and focused on the demon, waving his hands, freezing the demon. Then, he unfroze the demon's head. "Ready to talk?"

"What did you do?" Tachotered screamed.

"Gave you a reason to talk, I hope."

"I think not," the demon told him.

_Chris_ looked back at Alanna. "Anything else melt like that?"

Alanna nodded solemnly. "Feet and legs."

Tachotered's eyes widened more. "Just vanquish me all ready."

_Don't laugh. Don't laugh._ _Chris_ shook his head. "I think not," he said echoing the demon's words. "What to tell me how this can be fixed?"

"Let me go."

_Chris_ shook his head and waited.

"I wouldn't help even if I could."

"Have fun, Alanna," _Chris_ turned and took a step out of the way.

"Wait!"

Yes! _Chris_ held up his hand for Alanna to wait and turned back to face the demon. "I'm listening."

The demon's eyes glanced down at where his arms once where.

"And waiting," _Chris_ added, glancing at Alanna before giving Tachotered a pointed look.

Hank hid a smile behind his hand as her heard Janice whisper, "Apparently I didn't get the cooler power."

Hank caught her attention and glanced back at the frozen tentacle demon. "Well, I think that's quite cold."

Janice frowned for a moment and then her eyes widened before she smacked his shoulder. "Why you!"

_Chris_ glanced at them and back at the still silent demon. He sighed. "Fine. You have until I count to . . ."

"You can't summon him."

"Then, how does one hire him?"

"And I suppose you want to hire him?" Tachotered shot back.

_Chris_ just glanced at Alanna and the demon shuttered. "You know I don't. If they can be hired there has to be a way to find them."

"What do you care about finding him? It won't help fix what he did."

"Then, what will?"

_Piper_ flicked her hands at the demon, wishing she had control of her own powers. It had an interesting reaction, causing the demon's head to bob back and forth and his eyes to roll backward in his head.

_Chris_ looked at the result with interest. "Let's keep him conscious."

"He was taunting you," _Piper_ informed him.

_Chris_ blinked and looked between his mother and the demon. "Not obviously."

"Quite obviously." She walked over to face the now dizzy demon. "Let's talk."

"His powers are in his hands," the demon told her hastily.

"Then, we do need to find him."

Tachotered snorted. "Only if you want to be stuck like that."

"Make sense," she ordered.

"You find a way to get him here and he'll self destruct," the demon retorted. "No need for any of your vanquishing spells and potions. He self destructs and you are stuck that way forever. There is no way to reverse it without the Sjelmikser that cursed you."

"Cursed?"

"You don't think what that foul mischief maker did is a curse?"

"You do?"

"Try being a powerless mortal for a few weeks and you will, too."

Wyatt looked horrified at the thought of a few weeks without any powers. "Are you saying this isn't your body?"

"I got my body back and my powers. When they mess with demons they usually fix things eventually."

"Tell me," Paige spoke up, "if you can't stand these Sjelmikser, what are you doing hiring them?"

"You think I hired that foul being?"

Paige nodded. "Well, yeah. You're here."

Tachotered spat at her. "I never would. No, I was hired same as that thing was and that other one," he glared across the room at the tentacle demon still frozen in ice, though the ice appeared to be melting.

Paige exchanged a look with her sister before looking back at the demon. "Hired? By whom?"

"I'll tell you how to get around Sjelmikser, because I can't stand those things, but no amount of torture can get the other out of me."

"Drop it, Aunt Paige," _Wyatt_ insisted. "Someone's always after us. We need to find out what to do about this demon that caused all this confusion."

"Confusion," Tachotered tried the word out, "yes, that's about right. The demon of confusion."

"And how do we unconfused this demon of confusion," _Piper_ glared at him.

"You stab the eye in the middle of its right hand and keep the hole open until the hand glows bright red and explodes. That will reorganize any and everything that particular Sjelmikser mixed up, from all times. Be wary though, some people may be used to being in someone else's body."

"If they self destruct as soon as you see them how can you get close enough to do that?" _Chris_ asked.

Tachotered snorted. "I neither know nor care." Then, he shimmered out.

_Chris_ groaned. "He unfroze. And I didn't notice."

"Do you think he told the truth?" _Wyatt_ asked, looked at the spot where the demon had been.

"Demons lie," Alanna retorted.

"But did he?"

_Leo_ shook his head. "No. He didn't lie."

Everyone in the room turned to look at Leo, but it was _Wyatt_ who asked, "How do you know?"

_Leo_ smiled slightly. "Because I know how to use whitelighter powers, son."

"I can tell when someone is lying and someone is telling the truth?" _Wyatt_ asked, skeptical.

_Leo_ smiled a little more. "It's a bit more complicated than that, but the end result is, if you know how to read it, then sometimes you can. It's more a feeling than anything else." He looked at Paige. "Like your evil sense. I simply knew."

"Doesn't sound complicated," _Wyatt_ commented.

"It doesn't sound it, but if you don't listen to that tiny feeling in the back of your mind, you'll never even notice what it is trying to tell you."

_Wyatt_ sighed. "Okay, so you believe we can trust him. How do we do this without that demon self destructing?"

There was silence as everyone tried to think of something. Suddenly a smile lit up on _Chris_' face. "I know exactly how we're going to do that!"

"How's that?" Alanna asked.

_Chris_ grinned. "You'll see. Just take care of the demon icicle before it leaves, too." He turned to look at _Piper_. "Mom, I need your help."

* * *

So they now know a lot more about the demon that did this to them, but can they stop him? And what is Chris planning? Find out in the next chapter, "Insanity Plea".

Did you figure out if Hank is a witch or not? And if so, what let you know?


	24. Insanity Plea

First a thank you to my reviewers:

Skyla. Nightfox - Do you mean where she makes the demon's head bob back and forth? That's because she waved her hands the way she normally does to freeze things and so the demon's head followed suit. It made sense to me . . . and it made for an interesting image. I agree that both the shapeshifter demon and what the source did in that episode where very interesting.

FirePony16 - I had so much fun with freezing Wyatt. Poor guy. He got the short end of that stick.

lizardmomma - That's okay that you didn't try. I was trying to guage responces for something I am doing with him. I got enough to give me a good idea of where I stand. Glad you enjoyed the chapter.

JadeAlmasy - Well, now you get to see what Chris was planning and why he needed his mom's help.

lemonrocker - I am honored that my story is something you use as an escape from your exams. Sorry I didn't get any new chapters up here more quickly, but I was busy writing. I started to post a couple times, but got sidetracked or over tired.

piperspeanut - Well, you have a lot more knowlege than probably anyone else reading this . . . seeing as you've been reading on my site, where I have had time to post . . . and you know that Wyatt would much rather be without powers than in the situation he's in during the last few chapters you've read. Even still, enjoy reading this.

TaintedDarkInuShemeeko - First, yes, right now Wyatt is not a witch. That said, there are many reasons why Hank might not read. I have plans, so it's going to be a slow reveal. He might be a witch. He might not. I appreciate you giving me a guess.

To everyone who made a guess about Hank, thank you. I wanted to see how that chapter left people thinking of him and that helped a lot. For those who guessed that he is a witch because he froze. . . there are multiple reasons someone might not freeze and it's not just that he doesn't have an active power. He can't cast spells. On the flip side, for piperspeanut, who guessed that he isn't a witch . . . for all the reasons that a person might not freeze, one of them is that they are a good witch. A clue that will most likely confuse you, but is a clue all the same: If you paid close attention to some of what Pat and Vicki said to and about Hank, they know. Everyone from that reality knows and they also know that his counter part died for it. The story, whenever I finally get it written, is called "Male Halliwell Witches" or something like that. It is the tenth of the stories in "Charmed: Witch Hunts".

On to the main point of this chapter. Do you think Chris' plan will work? Find out below.

So the only thing you need to remember is:

Piper is in Leo's body with Chris' powers.  
Chris is in Wyatt's body with Piper's powers.

That said, enjoy.

* * *

Chapter Twenty-Three – Insanity Plea

The halls of Kendale's Home for the Insane were devoid of people, though a scream in the distance proved someone was about. It wasn't so much the scream of someone in trouble, but that of someone frustrated by the padded walls that kept them in. A door from one of the padded rooms opened and a man walked out. His short slick hair was the color of snow. His eyes were unnaturally wide and the color of hardened amber. As he walked down the hall his skin changed to a minty color. A smirk grew wide on his face as he walked toward his next patient. He stopped and turned toward a door, his skin changing back to a peach color, but it stopped before it finished.

The air nearby began to move and distort and revealed _Chris_ with one hand extended and the other clutching _Piper_'s hand. _Chris_ breathed a sigh of relief as his hands dropped to his sides. He pulled out an athemé out of its sheath at his side.

"That's quite a useful power," _Piper_ commented.

"Yeah, well it took you two hours to figure out how to use it, so I don't even want to guess how long it's going to take me to master." He took the athemé and grabbed Sjelmikser's right wrist with his free hand.

"I should do that," _Piper_'s voice halted him.

_Chris_ frowned and looked at her. "How come?"

"If this works two things are going to happen," _Piper_ reminded him. "Your brother will be back in his body with his powers and that hand will explode, probably injuring him. He can't heal himself."

Chris sighed and backed off. "Hurry, though. Even though it's your power, I can't freeze as long as you."

_Piper_ nodded and handed him a potion bottle as she took the athemé from him and grabbing the wrist of the demon to steady the hand, she stabbed the athemé deep into the center. She held it there and waited as the hand turned red around the wound and the red spread out in a circle encompassing the whole hand. _Piper_ let go of the hand and backed off as two things happened at once, time resumed and the hand exploded sending _Piper_ reeling backwards into a wall. The athemé clattered to the floor.

_Chris_ collapsed into a heap, the potion dropping from his hands and shattering by his feet.

Two pale green orbs rose out of them and dozens of other green orbs of varied shades collected around the demon, splitting as they arrived into blue and yellow orbs of varied shades and careening at the speed of light away from there. As two sets of pale orbs entered Leo and Wyatt's bodies, blue-white orbs spun around behind the demon turning into Paige.

"Wyatt? Leo?" Paige called, grabbing the demons attention.

Wyatt waved his hand weakly in the air. "Here, Aunt Paige."

Paige nodded and threw a new potion at Sjelmikser. The demon stared at her, a bit stunned as he exploded into millions of pieces and splattered green goo all over the white walls of the asylum. Paige started toward Leo, who was closest to her when she heard a squeal of joy.

Leo moaned, but didn't move.

It was enough to bring Paige's attention back to her brother-in-law. She ran to his side and dropped to her knees as nearby Wyatt tried to push himself up.

"Am I me?"

"If you are Wyatt, as you said a moment ago, then yes." She held her hands over Leo's head and a warm, golden glow emanated from them, beginning the healing of a nasty cut running along Leo's temple.

Wyatt pushed himself up against the wall. "How's Dad?"

Leo's eyes fluttered open. "Did my wife fling me against the wall?"

Paige chuckled. "I sincerely doubt that was her intent."

Leo's smiled a little. "I think we need to get out of here."

"Let me out of here," called a voice from one of the padded rooms.

The three in the hall looked at each other. "She's probably one of his victims," Wyatt commented.

"It won't help her if she breaks out though," Paige reminded him.

"Can you help her?"

Paige shook her head. "Coop . . . but that of no use right now." She sighed. "Where are they?"

"It's only been nine days," Wyatt reminded her. "They planned to be away twenty-eight."

"Something's wrong, very wrong. I just know it is." She sighed, again, and helped Leo to his feet. "I've got some contacts. I'll see if I can get them to reevaluate everyone here. Hopefully any victims of the demon who are here will be released. When we get home, I'm going to call the girls and see if they have had any luck. It isn't like Phoebe to not call any one."

"I'm sure she's all right," Leo tried to assure her, though his voice lacked a little in the conviction department. "I still have contacts in the magical world outside this family. I will see what I can do to got some of them looking."

"Aunt Phoebe is going to be annoyed if nothing really is wrong," Wyatt commented as he stood an winced. "Aunt Paige, I think something Mom or Chris did, probably Chris, got me injured."

"And something they did got all four you back in your own bodies," Paige reminded him as she held her hand against his injured shin. She stopped before anything happened and gave him a look. "I will heal this, but it's just a bruise. According to Leo, Chris broke his leg."

Wyatt frowned. "From the demon attacking?"

Paige nodded.

He looked at Leo. "What else didn't he say?"

Leo walked over to them as Paige healed the bruise. "Why don't we get back to Paige and Henry's house and talk there? We really don't want to be found here."

Wyatt sighed and nodded as Paige straightened and moved away from him. She reached down and picked up the athemé. "Leo, what should I do with this thing?"

Leo held out his hand. "I'll take care of it. Chris doesn't really need this."

"Chris won't like that," Wyatt warned. "He kept that thing for some reason."

"I'll talk to your brother," Leo assured him as Paige handed him the athemé and he slipped it between his belt and pants.

"He's not going to be happy."

"He's not going to be happy about other things I plan to talk to him about either," Leo informed him.

Wyatt opened his mouth to ask and thought better of it. "Ready?" When Leo nodded he hugged his dad and orbed out, a smile on his face over the very fact that he could orb.

Paige looked around at the green gunk all over the walls. "Let the object of my objection become but a dream as I cause the scene to become unseen." As the hallway around her cleared, she orbed back to her house.

* * *

Yeah! *Does dance* I don't have to put names in italics any more, because who the name says is who you see once more. Dance with me . . . okay, so I'm weird. You have no idea how happy I was when I no longer had to use italics every time I came across Leo, Piper, Wyatt, or Chris. Or you don't unless you've ever done this yourself . . . but you get the point.

The story's not done yet. And I am so far ahead of you it's kind of funny . . . because I have been spending all my writing time writing this series. Get this, my beta just sent back the last chapter of the next episode and she has three still to look at and send back from the story after that. I only wish all my stories would come about so quickly.

So what do you think Leo plans to talk to Chris about?

Remember the athemé from "The Magic Is Back" . . . yeah, that's what Chris used and yes, I'm more than likely letting Leo dispose of it . . . off screen, so if I change my mind I can do something with it, but I think it's for the best. If anyone disagrees and can think of a way I can use that athemé, please let me know. I'm truely at a loss.


	25. Winding Down

First a thank you to my reviewers:

lizardmomma - I didn't actually mean how Leo could get rid of it. I meant more like, I couldn't come up with any good reason for him to give it back to Chris. I think a volcano would do quite nicely.

piperspeanut - Glad you think so. And thank you for dancing with me. ;) Yes, Wyatt is thrilled to have his powers back. As to Leo's talk with Chris, it will be in this chapter.

FirePony16 - Yeah, that's pretty much where I stood. Nothing good to do with the thing. And so Chris will not be getting it back.

Okay, technically there is one more reference to them being out of body, it's just desrcibing what happened at Paige's house when they switched back to their own bodies. This was fun to write. I have fun with freak outs at times and I can totally see Janice's freak out at the beginning of this chapter. Have fun reading.

* * *

Chapter Twenty-Four – Winding Down

Piper and Chris were helping Paige's three children clean up the mess they had made vanquishing the third demon, the tentacle one that Janice had frozen. Chris had been right to be weary, for the Alanna's fire power had done nothing to vanquish the demon, merely thawed it out. It had started scurrying around, freaking Janice out. This time she had been unable to catch it with the icy blasts from her hands and walls and couches and pieces of carpet had been frozen as she grew more and more freaked out. When _Leo_ and _Wyatt_ had collapsed and Piper and Chris had been put back in their proper bodies, she had become even more freaked out to the point when Piper and Chris had opened their eyes and taken note of what was going on, she was standing on the couch yelling "Get it away from me! Get it away from me! SPIDER!"

Piper had frozen the room allowing Alanna who was staring stunned at her twin to take stock of the situation and run into the kitchen for one of the potions Paige and Piper had made earlier. Hank had glared at the demon and tried to think of some whitelighter power he could use to do damage to the demon. There was a reason no powers came to mind; whitelighters were essentially pacifists. Finally he had given up and hurried over to the couch to give his older sister a reassuring hug.

Knowing the demon would be frozen for a while Piper had allowed Alanna the chance to do this. She didn't know if her exploding power would work, but she had figure if the potion didn't work she could try that next.

Now, the five of them were cleaning up, each waiting anxiously for the return of Leo, Wyatt, and Paige. The sound of the front door closing could be heard in the background, but it was overshadowed by the site of blue-white orbs in the middle of the room as Wyatt, hugging Leo orbed into the room.

Piper leaned the mop she was using against the wall and ran to the middle of the room. She hugged her husband and son to her and beckoned her younger son over with her finger.

Chris laughed and joined the group hug. "Welcome back, Wy, Dad."

"Are you two okay?" Piper asked concerned.

More blue-white orbs formed in the room as Paige returned.

Leo nodded and placed a kiss on her lips. When he moved away he said, "We were a little hurt, but Paige took care of that."

"A little hurt," Paige scoffed as Hank gave his mom a hug. "Leo had a minor concussion from hitting the wall after the blast. Wyatt, well, his actually were minor."

"And why was Leo in the way of any blasts, Sweetheart?" Henry Mitchell, Sr.'s voice asked from the doorway.

"Dad!" Hank exclaimed running over to the doorway. "You've got to hear about the day we've had."

"You should have seen it, Dad," Alanna added. "Janice was running around the room freaking out."

"Hey!" Janice protested. "That's not fair."

Paige laughed. "Let's not bombard your dad the second he's walked in the door." She walked over to her husband and gave him a kiss. "How was work?"

Henry looked around the room. "If this is anything to go by, better than your day. It was pretty uneventful."

"Those kids actually co-operated?"

Henry shrugged. "Well, no more acting up than usual."

Paige smiled. "If you want to talk about it, I'll be all ears tonight. For now though, I didn't have time to cook anything, so how about we head over to The Manor and have dinner on Piper."

Piper raised twin eyebrows at that.

Paige laughed. "Don't worry, we'll pay for our food."

Piper shook her head. "No, you know what, you're right. We'll take you out. It's my restaurant. Speaking of which," she turned to look at Wyatt, "how did that interview go."

"Well," Wyatt looked at her uncomfortably, "I wasn't sure you really wanted me to make the decision, so I gave her a trial."

"A trial?" Piper quarried. "Do you think she can do the job?"

Wyatt nodded. "I think she can."

"Then, why didn't you hire her?"

Wyatt tried not to squirm under his mom's stare. "I thought the choice should be yours."

Nearby, Chris felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned his attention away from his mom and brother and looked back at his dad.

"Let them talk," Leo directed him. "I need to talk to you."

Chris nodded and followed Leo out of the room. He briefly greeted his uncle at the door. "Hi, Uncle Henry."

Henry smiled. "Good to see you, Chris."

"You have no idea," Chris returned cheerily before he entered the hall and looked at his dad. "What's going on, Dad?"

"I had a very interesting day," Leo commented.

"I'm sure you did," Chris replied, not sure where this was going.

"Your coworkers noticed something was up," Leo informed him before adding, "but the odd thing was that they didn't seem too surprised. It appears that this is a common occurance. Do you want to tell me what's going on, Chris?"

Chris sighed. He closed his eyes and listened to the silence. Images and conversations sped through his mind until he opened his eyes and looked at his dad. "I don't think I can." He sighed, again. "If you'll excuse me, there's something I need to do."

Leo looked at him for several seconds. "I'll be available when you're ready to talk."

Chris smiled. "Thanks, dad." Then, he orbed out of the house." Just before he was out of earshot he heard, "Grilled cheese sandwich!"

* * *

Leo has had his talk with his son and it caused a very specific reaction in Chris. What do you think he's up to? Henry's home from work and I figured out why all the Mitchell kids were home on a school day (seeing as all three are high schoolers). As the title suggests, this story is winding down, but it is by no means done. The next chapter will change things a lot for Chris.

Want to read the next chapter? You know what to do.


	26. The Decision

First a thank you to my reviewers:

FirePony16 - It's not just you. I just more or less blew it on that conversation. I tried to explain it below. Hopefully that helps some.

lizardmomma - Thank you.

Anym. - I look foward to seeing what you think of the additional chapters. Thank you for the compliment.

TaintedDarkInuShemeeko - I too was very happy to see everyone back in their real bodies. Enjoy.

piperspeanut - Yeah, that would be a lot of food. And that's coming up. That's my "fun" chapter. I just got to enjoy myself with that one. For now, though enjoy this one.

Oh, dear, I clearly missed when it came to that conversation. Almost no one has gotten it, at least almost no one has said they got it. Leo was talking to him about the fact that he didn't appear to be doing a very good job at work, that people there were noticing he was acting weird. He was trying to warn his son that he needed to shape up and focus on his work when he was there. Chris . . . well, this chapter is about Chris' reaction to that conversation. Hope it makes at least a little more sense.

* * *

Chapter Twenty-Five – The Decision

Chris stopped in front of the doors of Centennial. He looked up at the sign on the door. His eyes closed and he exhaled deeply. He walked up to the doors and pulled them open, both of them. Letting go of one, he entered the other door.

He walked past rows of furniture displays, turning just after a display advertising the newest thing in kitchen ware. He stopped at a door that said "Employees Only" and pulled a swipe card out of his pocket. He ran the swipe card through a small devise next to the door and the door beeped. A small red light on the handle changed to green. He turned the handle and waited as the over cautious door checked his palm print. With his free hand he stuffed the swipe card into his pocket. It beeped once more and he pulled the door opened. With a visible sigh he entered the room and the door shut behind him.

The receptionist, Naomi Walz, was sitting at her desk looked at some papers. At the sound of the door she looked up and watched as Chris entered the room. "Hello, Mr. Halliwell. Did you forget something?"

"Not exactly," he hedged. "Is Mr. Hollis in?"

She nodded. "He's in his office."

"Thanks." He walked down the hall, stopping briefly in front of a room that had his name on the door. Shaking his head he continued on and knocked on a door that said "Reginald Hollis" in gold letters emblazed onto a plaque.

"Come in," Mr. Hollis called from inside the room.

Chris turned the knob and entered the sparsely decorated room.

At the desk was a man only a decade or so older than Chris, Chris' boss, Reginald Hollis. He looked surprised. "Chris. What brings you here? Your shift ended hours ago."

Chris walked up to the desk and stood behind the chair there. "I'm sorry. This is rather difficult."

Mr. Hollis frowned. "What is the matter? Won't you have a seat?"

"No," Chris shook his head. "I'd best not. I won't take much of your time."

"What's going on, Chris?"

"I've decided to put in my notice," Chris told him straight faced.

Mr. Hollis stared at him stunned. "What! Why would you do that? Is it the wages?"

"No."

"Are you having trouble with an employee?"

"No, not really." The situation with David didn't count.

"Then, why?"

"I believe I have lost my usefulness to you," Chris admitted. "There are others who would do the job better."

"I doubt that," Mr. Hollis argued.

"Well, you'd be wrong," Chris told him, a little bit more firmly. "I haven't done much of use in the last month and a half."

"Business has been good, especially for after Christmas," Mr. Hollis reminded him, confused. "Usually things are slow."

"Not my doing," Chris informed him. "I've been distracted and things are just going to get worse."

"Is it school?"

"No," Chris denied. "School is not the problem. If things continue as they are I may have problems there, too, but so far one day a week I can handle."

"Unless you are suddenly independently wealthy, you'll still need a job of some sort."

"I'll find one," Chris assured him, "but I need flexibility. Things in my life have been complicated."

"Then, how do you explain the influx of business?" Mr. Hollis wanted to know.

"Mostly, David. He's a good employee and since you don't know anything of what's going on, I'm pretty sure he's been covering for me, hoping the situation would improve. It won't. If he'd going to do the job, he deserves the credit, the title, and the pay raise."

Mr. Hollis was silent as he looked at Chris. "Are you sure this is what you want?"

"Yes," Chris replied firmly. "Do you want it in writing?"

"That's probably best, if you are sure."

"Very sure."

Mr. Hollis dug into his desk and pulled out a pad of paper and a pen. He put them on the desk in front of Chris.

Chris bent over and started writing on the paper.

* * *

Hope everyone enjoyed this chapter. Only one more in this story and then with that one I will be posting the first chapter of "Good-Bye, Centennial". I really want to get this site caught up, so help me by reviewing. And I really think you will find the next episode interesting. It's one of those stories that just about wrote itself and even I was surprised by what happened in the end. So let me know what you thought of this chapter. Did you see it coming? Did you think Chris was going to quit? And what's he going to do now? If you want to find out, all you have to do is review.


	27. To Peace

First a thank you to my reviewers:

Anym. - And here you go the next chapter. I really appreciate you saying that you like my writing. Maybe you'll see it at a book store one of these days. After I manage to finish something that isn't Charmed.

TaintedDarkInuShemeeko - Sorry, then this one is going to make it double since I'm posting the last chapter of this story and the first of the next. I had fun with that chapter and this one, too. You are right. It wasn't just the talk with his dad. The talk just put some things he'd kept down on the fore front. This is what he wanted to do.

Neferiti - And here it is. ;)

lizardmomma - Thank you.

This chapter is one of the longest chapter two chapters in the story. I forget if this one was the longest or the other one. It was just one of those things where the chapter just had a lot to pack in. That means you get more reading, so enjoy.

* * *

Chapter Twenty-Six – "To Peace"

It had been over half an hour since Chris left the Matthews-Mitchell house when he walked into The Manor. He smiled at the hostess, a young woman he didn't recognize. Her name tag read, "Rebecca."

"Welcome to The Manor," Becky Davis stated politely. "How many in your party?"

"Nine, I think," Chris informed her, "but they should already be here. I'll just go in and find them."

"But you can't," the girl protested before her eyes widened and she covered her mouth. "I mean, I will direct you to their table if you would follow me."

Chris raised an eyebrow, slightly amused. "The party I am meeting is the owner and her family. My name is Chris Halliwell and I've been wandering these halls since I was a toddler. My mom won't expect you to lead me in, trust me on that."

"But it's improper," Becky protested.

Chris looked at her, trying to hide his growing amusement. Finally, he nodded. "Okay. You really don't have to, but go ahead."

She breathed a sigh of relief.

"Have you worked here long?" He asked, wishing Drinka was here.

Becky shook her head. "Only a couple of weeks," she admitted.

Chris nodded. "You'll get better." He smiled. "So why don't you show me to where my parents, brother, and the rest of my family are."

Becky nodded. "If you would follow me, sir."

Chris only just managed to keep from laughing. "Lead on."

She lead him into the main dining room where he found most of his family seated around a couple tables. In addition to those who had been at Aunt Paige and Uncle Henry's today, he saw the back of dark head standing between where Piper and Paige were sitting. "That's them," he informed Becky.

She nodded. "Yes, sir."

_Sir? That makes twice she's called me that. She needs to loosen up._ "Thanks, Rebecca."

"Becky."

He looked at her questioningly.

"It's Becky," she informed him. "Miss Deguilio thought Rebecca looked more sophisticated. I'm not sure why she cared though, she . . ."

"She's Drinka," Chris laughed. "You'll get used to her."

"I suppose." She didn't look so sure.

"Trust me. I've known Drinka most of my life. You'll get used to her."

"But why does she want sophisticated when she's so . . ?"

"Flamboyant?"

"Yeah."

Chris shrugged. "I'll never know how her mind works, but I suspect it came off of something or other my mom said."

"Oh." She looked at him for several seconds and sighed. "I better get back to the entry hall."

He smiled as he watched her head back. He couldn't have been more than three or four years or senior, seven on the long side, but she made him feel ancient. He walked over to the table just as his cousin, Ladybug Halliwell straightened and turned around. Seeing Chris she walked over to greet him. "Hi, Chris."

"No word on your parents?"

Ladybug nibbled on her bottom lip. "I know they said they wouldn't be in contact while they were gone, but its mom. Can she seriously resist the urge?"

"Maybe they went somewhere without phones."

She shook her head. "No. It's not like her. Dad maybe. I mean he loves us, but he loves Mom. And he trusts us. Mom, well, she still thinks we're little kids."

Chris cast a wry look at his mom. "Ladybug, I hate to tell you, but that's parents. My mom will always think of me as her baby. And your mom's baby is barely in the double digits."

"So she's ten," Ladybug gave him a look. "Cilly is eighteen and I'm nineteen, almost twenty. We're not babies."

Chris shrugged. "I'm just telling you how your mom probably sees it."

Ladybug sighed. "Okay. I know. But you get my point. She'd call. She'd find a way. Or she'd get dad to take her home to check in on us. Something."

Chris was silent for several seconds. Finally, he nodded. "Yes, I see your point. Is there anything I can do to help."

Ladybug stared past him across the room. "I don't know. We've tried scrying, but that only works if they're on earth and Dad's a cupid. Nothing says they have to be on earth. We tried both of their cell phones. No answer from Mom's and Dad's was in their bedroom. We tried just calling them. Didn't work. I don't know. Everything that hinders us could be innocent. And everything could horrific. I don't know."

"Did you come over to ask for help?"

She shook her head. "Aunt Paige called. She wanted to know how things were going from our end. I decided to come over and update her and Aunt Piper in person. I'm headed to the East coast now." She frowned. "There is something you can do." She glanced up. "Ask them. Please."

Chris gulped. It didn't take a genius to know who she meant. He nodded. "I will. I find a way to learn if they know anything."

"Talk to you tomorrow?"

"We aren't exactly their favorite people."

"They aren't exactly ours," she countered.  
He nodded. "Be that as it may, it's their opinions that count here. I doubt I'll have anything useful tomorrow. I'll get back to you as soon as I do."

She nodded. "Okay. See you later." She looked around the empty dining room and winked at him. "Aunt Piper really should do something about this lack of customers. You can't run a business without them." She glanced around and seeing no one who wasn't family she disappeared in pink hearts.

Chris stood there for a few seconds, thinking, before he walked over to the table where his brother had saved him a seat. He pulled out the chair and slid in between Wyatt and Henry. "Have you guys ordered yet?"

Wyatt shook his head. "We actually just got her a couple minutes ago, haven't even seen a waiter yet." Looking across the table, he asked, "What's up with that, Mom?"

Piper opened her mouth to say something as the doors to the kitchen swung open and two people walked out. One was Tyson "Ty" Addington, a waiter at the restaurant. The other was Emily. Piper closed her mouth and waited.

Ty lead the way as he and Emily walked over to the table. "Sorry, Mrs. Halliwell," he said as he stopped next to her. "We didn't know anyone was here. It's been dead for an hour. It's good to see you. I don't know how I'm supposed to train her when there's no one here to serve."

Piper looked across the table at Wyatt and mouth, "Emily?"

Wyatt nodded.

That confirmed Piper turned back and directed her next question to Ty. "Do you know why it's been dead? I seem to recall there being reservations. This room should be full."

Ty shook his head. "No. We've been getting cancelation starting about an hour ago. And some people just didn't show. Becky looked spooked."

"I heard her say something about a car accident on the freeway," Emily offered. "And we did have three groups in here until fifteen minutes ago."

Piper gave Ty a look.

Ty shrugged. "Hey, for here that's dead."

Piper shook her head and stood. "I'm going to go talk to Becky, see what's up. Is Callie still in the back?"

Ty nodded. "Yeah, but she keeps mumbling something about you needed to get a new cook."

Piper sighed. "Tell her when you get back in there that I will start looking for candidates."

"She'll appreciate that."

"Now, start taking orders," Piper told him before she headed toward the entry hall. As she reached the door, Becky entered with a couple. "Becky, when your done, I need a word with you."

Becky looked at her worried and nodded.

"Did you see any evidence of a car accident?"

Chris shook his head. "But then, I drove from the museum to Centennial and then to here. You'd have a better chance of seeing something between here and the house."

"We didn't drive," Wyatt whispered.

Chris scowled at him. "You are going to get in trouble for that one of these days. I'll drive you to the museum later, so you can pick up your car. No orbing," Chris ordered him in a low voice just before Ty and Emily reached them.

"May I get you a drink?" Emily asked Chris.

"Ice tea, please," Chris requested. "And the chef's special." He grinned. "And tell Callie my order with exactly those words."

Emily cocked her head sideways. "Why's that?"

"'Cause Callie doesn't admit she's a chef," Ty informed her. "You have to know Callie."

"Aren't you going to write it down?"

"Ice tea, chef's special," Emily repeated, holding out her pad of paper and turning it for him to see.

Chris chuckled. "Predictable am I?"

Emily looked at him innocently. "Whatever do you mean?"

"Who told you my order ahead of time?"

Her eyes shifted across the table for a second and then she just shrugged. She unfolded the paper so he could see what was written on the bottom of the paper.

Chris' eyes widened as he realized that that Wyatt's and Hank's orders were already written there as well. Then, he started to laugh. "Hey, Wy, were you going to order a milk shake and pasta with white sauce?"

Wyatt turned to look at him surprised. "How did you know that?"

"Chocolate on the shake?"

Wyatt nodded. "Why?"

"'Cause someone told the waitress here?"

"Lanna," Hank declared blandly.

"Was it?" Chris asked curiously.

Alanna said nothing as Emily shrugged. "Don't know."

"One of the twins over there?"

"I'll never tell."

Hank looked across the table at his sisters. Janice winked at him, causing him to start laughing. "Apparently it was Jani."

"So this order is accurate?" Emily asked Wyatt.

Wyatt looked at the paper and nodded. "It is, Emily."

She looked at him surprised and then frowned. "I don't have a name tag and I didn't mention my name."

Wyatt didn't answer for a moment. Then, he pointed at where his mom and aunt sat. "That's my mom over there."

"She mentioned me?"

"We discussed your interview," Wyatt admitted. _But she wasn't the one giving information._

"I see. In that case, pleased to meet you. I'm Emily Colson."

Wyatt grinned and held out his hand. "Welcome to The Manor. I'm Wyatt Halliwell."

"Do you work here?"

He shook his head. "I don't cook."

"And even the boss' son would have to?"

He nodded. "Oh yeah. Chris could work here, but not me."

Chris' eyebrows shot up and a thoughtful expression crossed his face.

"Well, it's nice to meet both of you."

Wyatt nodded, but turned his attention to his brother as she walked over to confirm that Janice had accurately given her Hank's order. "What was that?"

"What was what?"

"The look on your face."

"What look?"

"The one when I said you could work here."

"Oh, that look."

"And?"

"I quit."

Wyatt frowned. "You quit?"

Chris nodded. "I turned in my notice today at Centennial."

"We have rent to pay," Wyatt reminded him.

"I know. I'll pay."

"So what was with the look?"

"It just made me remember that Mom's been after me to work here forever. Maybe I should take her up on that."

Wyatt glanced over their mom and back at his brother. "You sure about that?"

Chris nodded. "Yeah." He inhaled and looked to where Piper was approaching the table after her talk with Becky. "Mom?"

Piper looked up. "Yes?"

"You know that job Callie wants you to fill?"

"For another cook, yes." Piper looked at him curiously as she sat back down.

"I'd like to apply."

"Over dinner?"

"Just letting you know."

"Over dinner?"

Wyatt chuckled. "Chris, drop the subject. She won't hire you if you . . ."

"Yes, she will," Callie's voice called from the kitchen.

Chris laughed. "I'll drop it for now, but I'll be over at the manor, the other one, in the morning."

Piper eyed him for several seconds. "If anyone is interested, Becky told me that no one was reported badly injured from the accident, just a lot of cars and the road was blocked off." She looked over her shoulder at the closed kitchen door. "Let's focus on dinner for now."

"The dinner we don't have, because we just ordered," Alanna rolled her eyes.

"I am not conducting interviews over dinner, not even with my son."

"He didn't request one," Alanna argued.

"Leave it be, Alanna," Paige instructed her oldest.

"Just hire him and be done with it," Alanna pressed. "He's your son. You know his qualifications."

"On paper he's not much to look at."

Chris looked at his mother, slightly insulted.

Alanna waved it away. "On paper you can't taste the food he can make. You know he's qualified."

"It's . . ."

"You're the owner and he's more than qualified to be a chef here."

Leo smiled a little as he looked between the two. He already knew how this argument would end.

Emily glanced down at the paper in front of her. In a whisper she asked Ty, "Should we get back to kitchen?"

Ty nodded. "Yeah." As they walked away he added, "He'll be working here by the end of the week, the end of next at the very latest."

"Can he cook?"

Ty nodded. "He's come in a few times, when we were swamped, to help out in the kitchen. Yeah, he can cook."

She nodded. "Well, let's get this order in to Callie."

Ty didn't say anything as they headed back to the kitchen.

"So how did you spend your day off school?" Henry asked his three kids.

"Getting ready for prom," Alanna told him. "At least until Aunt Piper showed up."

Hank groaned. "Prom? That's months off."

"We're seniors," Alanna shrugged. "Prom's important when you're a senior."

"How am I even related to these girls?" Hank bemoaned.

Wyatt put his arm around his cousin's shoulder, a grin on his face. "Siblings are just something you have to put up with. For you it's the twins. For me," he indicated Chris with his chin, "it's that guy."

Chris gave him a little shove. "And I don't have to put up with your legendary messes and take out dinners?"

"They are not legendary," Wyatt protested. "Kali's opinion does not qualify as legendary."

"What about . . ?"

"Grandpa's family," Wyatt interrupted. "He doesn't count for this."

"Or maybe . . ?"

"Seth wouldn't say anything against me, ever."

Chris shook his head, grinning. "Boy do you have a short memory. Why I remember . . ."

"Wasn't me."

"It sure wasn't Seth."

"He lied."

"He's . . . never mind. He couldn't have done it."

"I am not answering these charges."

The others at the table watched with interest. "I'm not even sure what these charges are," Janice whispered to Alanna.

Alanna shook her head. "I wouldn't try. Not with those two."

Ty and Emily came in with their drinks. "Apparently you are predictable," Emily commented. "Callie had these ready."

Chris laughed as she put his ice tea down on the table. "Thank you, Emily."

She grinned back before she handed Wyatt his shake.

When the two were headed over to the other table to take their couple's order, Paige lifted her glass of ice water. "I propose a toast. To cooperation and no more identity crisis." She smiled as she added, "To peace."

There were smiles around the table and one by one eight more glasses lifted toward the center of the table. "To peace."

THE END

* * *

That's the end of that story, but there is so much more to come. The next story was supposed to be mostly about Chris' last day at Centennial. And it is. There just isn't as much that actually has a whole lot to do with Centennial. It's one of those stories that practically wrote itself and much as parts where eye openers for this author and I was quite annoyed at what the demon did to one of the characters, I must say that I really enjoyed the story and liked how it ended out. It has made a ripple effect on episodes to come.

To give you some idea, it is anything but a typical day at work for either Wyatt or Chris when demons are sent to attack both brothers at work. Have fun reading.


End file.
